This article provides an in-depth fundamental analysis of Ruchira Papers Ltd, a North India based paper manufacturing company dealing in writing & printing paper and kraft paper (packaging paper).
In order to benefit the maximum from this article, an investor should focus on the process of analysis instead of looking for good or bad aspects of the company. She should learn the interpretation of different types of data and transactions and pay attention to the parts of annual reports etc. used to get the information. This will help her in improving her stock analysis skills.
Ruchira Papers Ltd Research Report by Reader
Hello Dr Vijay Malik Sir,
Congratulations and thank you for a wonderful blog on fundamental analysis.
Can you please give your insights on Ruchira Papers Ltd.?
I have attached my analysis, checklist summary.
Regards,
Company: Ruchira Papers Ltd
Industries: Paper & Papers Product
The Company is engaged in manufacturing of Writing & Printing Paper which is used for manufacturing of Note Books, Publications etc. and Kraft Paper which is used as a Raw Material in Packaging Industry. The factory is based in Himachal Pradesh close to Baddi, which is an important centre for FMCG and Pharma manufacturing.
Indian Paper Industry Overview:
India ranks fifteenth among paper producing countries in the world with a total installed capacity of approximately 12 million tonnes per annum. Even as paper consumption has steadily increased, India’s per capita consumption has remained at a meagre 10 kilograms compared to the global average of 60 kilograms. The paper industry in India is primarily categorised into W&P (writing and printing), paperboard and newsprint segments. India is nearly self-sufficient when it comes to the indigenous production of most varieties of paper and paperboards, even as certain varieties of specialty papers are imported. Despite accounting for 17% of the global population, India accounts for a mere 3% of the world’s paper and paperboard production, a reflection of its low literacy. The estimated turnover of the industry is Rs. 35,800 crore and provides employment to more than 370,000 people directly and 1,300,000 indirectly.
(Source Annual Report FY2015-16)
Financial Analysis Checklist of Ruchira Papers Ltd:
- Sales growth: 19%
- Profitability: 6%
- Tax payout: 30%
- Interest coverage: 5.64
- Debt to Equity ratio: 0.28
- Current ratio: 1.53
- Cash flow (CFO > 0): YES
- Cumulative PAT vs. CFO (cPAT ~ cCFO): YES
Business & Industry Analysis Checklist of Ruchira Papers Ltd:
- Comparison with industry peers: Yes
- Increase in production capacity and sales volume: Yes. Company has implemented a Rs 38.69 cr production debottlenecking programme, which will increase production from 99,000 TPA to 116,000 TPA,
- Conversion of sales growth into profits: Yes
- Conversion of profits into cash: Yes
- Creation of value for shareholders from the profits retained: Yes (2.4x)
Management Analysis Checklist of Ruchira Papers Ltd:
- Background check of promoters & directors: Ruchira Papers Limited went into production in 1983, promoted by Umesh Chander Garg, Jatinder Singh and Subhash Chander Garg. Jatinder Singh addresses finance, administration and procurement, Subhash Chander Garg looks after taxation, marketing and sales while Umesh Chander Garg manages the production, maintenance and technical aspects.
- Management succession plans: N/A
- Salary of promoters vs. net profits: Not able to find
- Project execution skills: NA
- Consistent increase in dividend payments: Consistent
- Promoter shareholding: 60.32%
- Promoter buying the shares: Promoters buying consistent
- FII shareholding: 0
Other Business Parameters of Ruchira Papers Ltd:
- Product diversification: Paper
- Govt. influence: Nothing So Far
Margin of Safety (MoS) Analysis of Ruchira Papers Ltd:
- MoS in Purchase Price (Earnings Yield (EY) EY > 10 Yr G-Sec Yield): Yes
- MoS in Business Model:
- Self-Sustainable Growth Rate (SSGR) (SSGR > Achieved Sales Growth Rate): 2%
- Free Cash Flow (FCF) (FCF/CFO >> 0): 21% Over 10y
Credit Rating Analysis of Ruchira Papers Ltd:
- The Company has been upgraded from CARE BBB- (TRIPLE B -) to CARE BBB (TRIPLE B) assigned to Long term facilities and CARE BBB/CARE A3+(TRIPLE B/ A THREE PLUS) assigned to short term facilities of the Company.
Valuation Analysis Checklist of Ruchira Papers Ltd:
- P/E ratio: 9.45
- P/E to Growth ratio: 0.25
- Earnings Yield (EY): 10.58
- P/B ratio: 1.69
- Price to Sales ratio (P/S ratio): 0.6
- Dividend Yield (DY): 1.47%
My Investing rationale:
- Increase in promoter stake by 6% in last 5 years.
- Cheap Valuations
- E-commerce Boom
- Textile Boom
- Manufacturing sector getting a boost
- Dividend Yield acting as a cushion
- Free cash Flows
Please provide your inputs.
Thank you,
Best Regards,
Avinash Landge
Dr Vijay Malik’s Response
Dear Avinash,
Thanks for your feedback & appreciation! I am happy that you found the articles useful!
Many thanks for sharing your analysis of Ruchira Papers Ltd with the readers and the author. I appreciate the time & effort put in by you in the analysis. It gives a pleasure to see that you are using the Screener.in compatible stock analysis excel template available at our website.
Let us analyse the financial performance of Ruchira Papers Ltd over the last 10 years.
Financial Analysis of Ruchira Papers Ltd:
Ruchira Papers Ltd had been growing its sales at a good pace of 19% over the last 10 years (FY2007-16). However, as the size of the company is increasing the pace of sales is going down year on year. The sales growth has toned down to 12% in the last 7 years (FY2009-16) and further down to 7% in the last 5 years (FY2011-16).
As per the company, it has undertaken debottlenecking of its existing plant capacity towards the end of FY2016, which might lead to the growth rate picking up in future. However, it remains to be seen to what extent the company would be able to utilize the increased capacity. As per the H1-FY2017 results declared by Ruchira Papers Ltd, it has achieved a sales growth of about 9% over the previous year.
A look at the profitability trend of Ruchira Papers Ltd would indicate that both the operating profitability margin (OPM) and net profit margin (NPM) have been fluctuating widely during the last 10 years (FY2007-16). Operating profit margins (OPM) have been varying from 12-9-17-11-14% over the years and similarly, net profit margins (NPM) have been fluctuating from -2% to 6% over the years.
Such fluctuating margins are characteristic of companies, which have low bargaining power with their customers. In such businesses, companies find it difficult to pass on the increase in raw material costs to their customers quickly and thus take a hit on their profitability margins.
Further advised reading: How to do Business Analysis of Paper Manufacturing Companies
Ruchira Papers Ltd has proudly communicated in its FY2016 annual report that they have been able to maintain its operating margins in the business despite the fact that in the paper industry it is extremely difficult to pass on the increase in raw material to customers. See pg. no. 4 of the FY2016 annual report:
If an investor analyses the comparative performance of Ruchira Papers Ltd with its peers (JK Paper, Tamil Nadu Newsprint, Emami Paper and West Coast Paper), then the investor realizes that neither Ruchira Papers Ltd seems to have been able to maintain its profitability margins nor it is the most cost-competitive player in the industry:
The above chart clearly depicts that the operating margins of Ruchira Papers Ltd have been fluctuating more or less in the same manner as the margins of most of its peers like JK Paper, West Coast Paper, Emami Paper etc. The only paper manufacturer to stand out in terms of stable margin out of the five players is Tamil Nadu Newsprint & Paper Ltd, which without doubt has the most stable as well as the highest operating profitability margins out of the five key players.
The above comparative analysis also indicates that Ruchira Papers Ltd is not the most competitive paper producer in the country. Many other players e.g. Tamil Nadu Newsprint & Paper Ltd are more cost-competitive than Ruchira Papers Ltd.
Further advised reading: Why We cannot always Trust What Management Claims
Over the years, the tax payout ratio of Ruchira Papers Ltd has been consistently above 30%. However, as per the company, it has been availing multiple tax benefits including income tax benefits due to the geographical location of its factory. Ruchira Papers Ltd has provided details of the various incentives available to the company at pg. 5, FY2016 annual report.
An investor can derive the following conclusions from the above information:
- The income tax payout rate is expected to be lower than standard corporate tax rate due to the 30% income tax benefit available to the company.
- The profitability of the company will take a hit when the excise tax exemption & income tax exemption end after FY2018
- The company is not the most cost competitive despite availing lower power costs (due to incentives as well as co-generation plant) as well as excise duty benefits.
Also Read:How to do Financial Analysis of a Company
Operating Efficiency Analysis of Ruchira Papers Ltd:
Operating efficiency parameters of Ruchira Papers Ltd reflect that it has been able to improve its net fixed assets turnover (NFAT) over the years. NFAT has improved from 1.09 in FY2010 to 2.26 in FY2016.
The inventory turnover ratio (ITR) of Ruchira Papers Ltd has been almost stable at about 7-8 times over the last 10 years.
Receivables days have been fluctuating wildly over the years. It has shown sharp improvement in FY2008 when receivables days improved from 50 days to 35 days. However, since then the receivables days deteriorated to 49 days in FY2014 and have now improved to 34 days in FY2016.
Further Advised Reading: Receivable Days: A Complete Guide
Ruchira Papers Ltd has proudly claimed in its FY2016 annual report (pg. 9) that it has been performing better than its peer in terms of receivables days and inventory management.
Most paper companies have long receivables and large inventory. Ruchira Papers enjoys superior terms of trade; its superior product quality has translated into negligible finished stocks.
However, when we compare the receivables days of Ruchira Papers Ltd with its other peers (JK Paper, Tamil Nadu Newsprint, Emami Paper and West Coast Paper), then we come to know that other peers like JK Paper and West Coast Paper are performing better than Ruchira Papers Ltd. However, among the peers compared, Ruchira Papers Ltd along with JK Paper has the best inventory management.
Also Read: 5 Simple Steps to Analyse Operating Performance of Companies
When we analyse the cumulative profits and cash flow data for 10 years (FY2007-16)), then we realize that Ruchira Papers Ltd has been able to convert its profits into cash flow from operations. Cumulative PAT during FY2007-16 is ₹81 cr. whereas the cumulative cash flow from operations (CFO) over a similar period has been ₹251 cr. Conversion of profits into cash is a good sign for the investors.
Margin of Safety in the Business of Ruchira Papers Ltd:
Free Cash Flow Analysis of Ruchira Papers Ltd:
Over the last 10 years (FY2007-16), Ruchira Papers Ltd has done a capital expenditure (capex) of ₹199 cr. which was primarily concentrated in FY2008 & FY2009 (₹141 cr.). Ruchira Papers Ltd relied primarily on debt to meet this capex, which led to the debt levels rising to ₹141 cr. In FY2009. However, over the years the company has refrained from doing such debt-funded capex and has accordingly used the cash generated from operations for the reduction of debt.
As a result, the total debt of Ruchira Papers Ltd has reduced from ₹141cr in FY2009 to ₹73 cr in FY2016. However, the prevalence of debt during the last decade has eaten up almost ₹110 cr from the funds generated by the company during this period, assuming an 11.75% rate of interest, which the company is paying on its current debt taken from Punjab National Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce (FY2016 annual report, pg. 12).
The three-year debt was provided to the company by a consortium of PNB and OBC at a cost of 11.75%.
However, despite significant costs of the debt incurred by Ruchira Papers Ltd, it has been able to successfully reduce its debt and as a result, the company has witnessed improvement in its credit rating by the credit rating agency CARE Ltd in FY2016:
Using the funds generated from operations to reduce debt is a good sign of management. However, if an investor analyses the FY2016 annual report of Ruchira Papers Ltd, then she realizes that there are many aspects/decisions of the management of the company, which require deeper assessment.
Additional aspects and annual report analysis of Ruchira Papers Ltd:
1) Salary of MD & whole time directors exceeds the statutory ceiling:
As per the annual report for FY2016, Ruchira Papers Ltd has paid a salary of ₹3.13 cr to its executive directors including managing director & whole-time directors, which is 16% of its net profit after tax of ₹19.5 cr in FY2016.
The company has declared that it does not have adequate profits for payment of managerial remuneration under section 197 or schedule 5 of the Companies Act 2013. On page 34 of the FY2016 annual report:
“During the Financial Year ended 31st March 2016, the Company did not have adequate profits for payment of managerial remuneration under section 197 and Schedule V of the Companies Act, 2013. The profitability has increased during the year but the remuneration proposed does not fall under the limits as specified under section 197 resulted inadequacy of profits during the F.Y. 2015-16. “
As per the act:
“A director who is in whole time employment of the company or a managing director may be paid remuneration either by way of a monthly payment or at a specified percentage of net profits of the company or partly by one and partly by the other. Such remuneration cannot exceed 5 % of the net profits of the company, except with the approval of the Central Government in the case of one director and 10 % for all such directors.”
An investor should check with the company whether it has obtained the approval of the central government for paying the stated remuneration to its executive directors.
Further advised reading: How to identify Promoters extracting Money via High Salaries
2) The senior vice president in charge of corporate social responsibility spending (Sr. VP-CSR), Ms. Praveen Garg, who is the wife of the founder promoter of Ruchira Papers Ltd, is being paid a salary of ₹36.2 lakh, whereas the total CSR spending done by the company in FY2016 is ₹7.47 lakh.
An investor may analyse different sections of the annual report to verify these expenses:
3) The above image also indicates the strange fact that all the eight relatives of founder promoters are being paid the same salary of ₹36.2 lakh by the company irrespective of their experience (7 to 23 years) or qualifications or age (29 to 69 years).
It hardly seems a coincidence as in professionally run organizations, the remunerations of different persons depend on their merit and are usually different for different employees.
Moreover, another strange finding that an investor would notice is that all the eight relatives of founder promoters got the same hike in remuneration in the current year over the previous year. Annual report FY2016, page 100:
It is a very strange performance evaluation by the board/human resource department of Ruchira Papers Ltd that all the eight relatives have added exactly equal value to the company that all the eight of them have received equal increments in remuneration.
By a far fledged leap of logic, it seems that the founder promoters are allocating equal allowances to the relatives via the company, which cumulatively amounts to ₹2.9 cr per year (₹36.2 lakh * 8), which is about 15% of net profits of the company.
An investor should explore further the value being added to the company by the eight relatives of the founder promoters.
Further advised reading: How to identify Promoters extracting Money via High Salaries
4) Related party transactions:
As per the annual report for the company for FY2016, page 32, Ruchira Papers Ltd has been dealing with the entities, which are held by relatives of founder promoters: Mr. Umesh Chander Garg and Mr. Jatinder Singh.
The extent of the sales to these entities has been mentioned as ₹95 cr, which is about 25% of the total sales of Ruchira Papers Ltd. An investor should further analyse whether these transactions are at arm’s length despite being stated so in the annual report.
An investor should always be vary of increasing sales/transaction of the companies with promoters and their related parties as historically, such transactions have a very high probability of benefiting the said related parties than the minority shareholders. Therefore, it is advised that the investor should explore more about these transactions through various sources and then make her final opinion.
Further advised reading: How Promoters benefit themselves using Related Party Transactions
Margin of Safety in the market price of Ruchira Papers Ltd:
Ruchira Papers Ltd is currently available at a P/E ratio of about 9.4.
However, we recommend that an investor may read the following articles to assess the PE ratio to be paid for any stock, taking into account the strength of the business model of the company as well. The strength in the business model of any company is measured by way of its self-sustainable growth rate and the free cash flow generating the ability of the company.
In the absence of any strength in the business model of the company, a low PE ratio of the company’s stock may be signs of a value trap where instead of being a bargain; the low valuation of the stock price may represent the poor business dynamics of the company.
- 3 Principles to Decide the Ideal P/E Ratio of a Stock for Value Investors
- How to Earn High Returns at Low Risk – Invest in Low P/E Stocks
- Hidden Risk of Investing in High P/E Stocks
Analysis Summary
Overall, Ruchira Papers Ltd seems to be a company, which has been growing at a good pace in the past but is currently witnessing a slowdown in growth. The management has recently undertaken capacity expansion by debottlenecking, which might contribute to the growth in future. The company has been facing fluctuating operating margins in line with changing raw material prices, which is in contrast to the claims made by the company in its shareholders’ communications like the annual reports.
The company has utilized its funds generated from operations in the past to reduce debt and give dividends to shareholders. However, multiple aspects of the management decisions like high salary to executive directors, equal allowances to relatives of founder promoters and significant amount sales transactions with entities of relatives of promoters indicate that an investor should analyse the management aspect of Ruchira Papers Ltd in further depth before taking the final decision of putting her hard-earned money in the stock.
These are my views about Ruchira Papers Ltd. However, you should do your own analysis before making any investment-related decision about Ruchira Papers Ltd.
You may use the following steps to analyse the company: “How to do Detailed Analysis of a Company“
An investor should keep a close watch on the operating efficiency and the debt levels of Ruchira Papers Ltd along with its operating margins in future.
Also Read: How to Monitor Stocks in your Portfolio
Hope it helps!
Regards,
P.S.
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Disclaimer
Registration status with SEBI:
I am registered with SEBI as a research analyst.
Details of financial interest in the Subject Company:
I do not own stocks of the companies mentioned above in my portfolio at the date of writing this article.
