Fundamental Analysis of Gujarat Fluorochemicals

by Vikalp Mishra | Jan 23, 2023 | Case Study, Financials | 6 comments

Fundamental Analysis of Gujarat Fluorochemicals: They say corporate events such as buyouts, demergers, etc. can create valuable opportunities for investors. Perhaps, Gujarat Fluorochemicals have been one such case. Over the last three years, the chemicals stock has advanced by 385%. Or is it because of the China Plus One strategy? Or the company was always undervalued? What can be future catalysts for the stock? We attempt to answer such questions by performing a fundamental analysis of Gujarat Fluorochemicals

Table of Contents

In this article, we’ll start with learning about the business and the revenue segments of Gujarat Fluorochemicals. Thereafter, we’ll briefly read about the industry in which the company operates. Next, we’ll analyze the revenues, return ratios, and other numerical metrics. A highlight of the future plans of the company and a summary conclude the article in the end.

Founded in 1989, Gujarat Fluorochemicals Limited is a leading manufacturer of refrigerants, fluorospecialities, fluoropolymers, and chemicals. These products find their end use in various sectors.

It is a part of the INOXGFL Group, a diversified conglomerate with business interests in wind energy, specialty chemicals, fluoropolymers, and renewables.

The company is headquartered in Noida and has three production sites in India. Additionally, it has a captive mine of Fluorspar in Morrocco and offices & warehouses in Europe and USA. Its facility at Dahej, Gujarat is one of the most integrated into the world.

Gujarat Fluorochem was incorporated on December 6th, 2018. Initially, the fluoropolymers and PTFE businesses were demerged from Gujarat Fluorochemicals to form a separate entity called Inox Fluorochemicals.

Thereafter, Gujarat Fluorochemicals was renamed to GFL Ltd. and the name of Inox Fluorochemicals was changed to Gujarat Fluorochemicals. Thus the present entity got to keep the chemicals business and the name ‘Gujarat Fluorochemicals’.

Poly Tetrafluoroethylene or PTFE is the largest revenue segment contributing to 34% of the total operating revenue in FY22. PTFE is commonly used for non-stick coatings in cookware, wire insulation, surface coatings, and more.

Caustic soda and Chloromethanes are the second and third largest product-wise revenue divisions with 12% and 11.5% shares respectively. Refrigerant gases accounted for 8% of the total income.

As for the geographical breakup, India brings most of the business of the GFL with 51.5% of the sales originating domestically. Europe and the USA clocked 21% and 12% of the total operating income.

Thus we can say that the chemicals manufacturer is well-diversified in terms of product lines and geography. The next section of our fundamental analysis of Gujarat Fluorochemicals provides an overview of the fluoropolymers and PTFE industry.

According to Astute Analytica, the international fluoropolymers market was pegged to be $ 7.9 billion in 2021. It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.3% to $ 10.2 billion by 2027. In the coming years, various industries will fetch the expansion in the demand for the products.

The primary demand will come from both types of industries:

We read above that PTFE is a key product line of Gujarat Fluorochemicals. Thus, we have devoted a separate paragraph to it.

PTFE has properties such as non-wetting, high density, and resistance to high temperatures making it ideal for application in the electrical, electronics, healthcare, chemical, and industrial processing sectors. Analysts anticipate that demand will likely increase in the coming years from these sectors.

The reorganized entity of Gujarat Fluorochemicals came into existence in December 2018. Thus, the figures for FY18 are not available.

The operating revenue of the company grew by 49% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 3,954 crore in FY22. As for the net profit, we can not provide a CAGR calculation. The bottom line has remained volatile during the study period owing to operating margin compression in FY 20 and tax treatments in FY 19 and FY 21.

Overall, the picture appears to be positive for the company. The table below presents the operating revenue and the net profit of Gujarat Fluorochemicals for the last four years.

As for the profit margins of Gujarat Fluorochemicals, the figures have improved in the recent fiscal after registering a decline in the pandemic-affected FY20 to FY21 period.

The figures for net profit margin don't coincide with the profit after tax in the previous section. This is because the NPM numbers exclude the tax pertaining to previous financial years and net deferred tax changes.

The table below highlights the operating profit margins and revised net profit margin of the chemicals manufacturer over the previous four years.

So far we have covered the business, revenue & profit figures, and profit margins of the company as part of our fundamental analysis of Gujarat Fluorochemicals. In the next section, we take a look at the return ratios of the stock.

A casual look at the return ratios of Gujarat Fluorochem will tell us that it is a good business with adequate return ratios.

Furthermore, from the table below we can see that the return on capital employed (RoCE) and the return on equity (RoE) have improved over the past few years because of the growth in earnings.

The debt-to-equity ratio of the stock has slightly increased in recent financial years as the management took to the use of debt to fund its capital expenditure plans. Despite that, it was within safe limits with a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36 and an interest coverage ratio of 16.95 in FY22.

So far we have only looked at the previous years’ data of the company. In this section, let us try to understand what lies ahead for Gujarat Fluorochemicals and its investors.

We are almost at the end of our fundamental analysis of Gujarat Fluorochemicals. Let us take a look at the key metrics of this specialty chemicals stock.

We are now at the end of our fundamental analysis of Gujarat Fluorochemicals. It has been an interesting case with rising sales and concurrent expansion in the profit margins. Going forward, volume growth and stability in the margins will be the key catalysts for the stock.

In your opinion, what can be key risks that can hinder the company's growth? How about we continue this conversation in the comments below?

You can now get the latest updates in the stock market on Trade Brains News and you can also use our Trade Brains Stock Screener to find the best stocks.

Vikalp Mishra is a commerce graduate from the University of Delhi. He likes to write on finance, money and business. He is a voracious reader with a genuine interest in investing. Drop him a mail at [email protected].

Want to learn Stock Market trading and Investing? Make sure to check out exclusive Stock Market courses by FinGrad, the learning initiative by Trade Brains. You can enroll in FREE courses and webinars available on FinGrad today and get ahead in your trading career. Join now!!

Enriched knowledge from the content. Good effort.

Thanks for the appreciation, Sudip. Made my day!

Excellent work

Valuable info.

Thanks a lot, Gopinath!

Thanks, Abhishek! Glad that you liked it.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comment *

Name *

Email *

Website