APL Apollo Tubes Share price and Fundamental Analysis

Company History

Owing to dynamic leadership of Sanjay Gupta, Chairman, APL Apollo Tubes Limited (APL) is the largest and the most innovative producer of Structural steel tubes and pipes in India. Presently, the Company is engaged in production of ERW steel tubes and has 5 manufacturing units one each at Sikanderabad in Uttar Pradesh, Hosur in Tamilnadu, Raipur in Chhattisgarh, Murbad in Maharashtra and Chegunta in Telangana. Headquartered at Delhi NCR, the Company runs 11 manufacturing facilities with a total capacity of 3.6 MTPA. The Company's vast 3-tier distribution network of over 800 dealers is spread all across India, with warehouses cum- branch offices in over 20 cities.

APL Apollo's multi-product offerings include over 2,000 varieties of MS Black pipes, Galvanized Tubes, Pre-Galvanized Tubes, Structural ERW Steel tubes and Hollow Sections. With manufacturing facilities, it serves as a one-stop shop' for a wide spectrum of steel structural products, catering to an array of industrial applications such as urban infrastructure, automobile, construction, housing, energy, irrigation, solar plants, greenhouses and engineering.

APL Apollo Tubes Ltd was incorporated on February 24, 1986 as a private limited company. The company started a unit at Sikandrabad (UP) to manufacture M. S. Pipe. And then they also set up facilities to manufacture G. I. Pipes. In October 19, 1993, the company was converted into a public limited company. In 1995, they entered in to capital market by way of a public issue amounting to Rs 438 lakh. In 2002, the company modernized their plant. During the year 2009-10, the company commissioned world-scale manufacturing facilities at Hosur, Tamil Nadu, with installed capacity of 200,000 MTPA and extend the brand 'APL Apollo' in promising markets. They transformed five of their branches in Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Pune and Ludhiana to a full-fledged steel product retail chain under the name of APL Apollo Steel World. Also, the name of the company was changed from Bihar Tubes Ltd to APL Apollo Tubes Ltd to attain a strategic image makeover and brand building.

During the year 2010-11, the company strategically acquired 100% shares of M/s Lloyds Line Pipes Limited (hereinafter known as LLPL) from its erstwhile shareholders in all cash deal, inter-alia making it the Company's wholly-owned subsidiary on November 11, 2010. They opened five additional warehouses-cum- branches at Nagpur, Goa, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Cochin to cater to the burgeoning demand in various industrial applications, thereby, strengthening the APL Apollo brand.

The company's equity shares were listed on National Stock Exchange Ltd (NSE) with effect from December 14, 2011.

The company allotted 1,500,000 warrants to Mr. Ashok Kumar Gupta, a person considered as promoter, on a preferential basis on 14 February 2012 at a price of Rs 145/- each wherein each warrant entitled Mr. Ashok Kumar Gupta to subscribe for one Equity Share of the Company. Out of these fifteen lacs warrants, 385,000 warrants were converted in to equity shares on 23 March 2013.

On June 21, 2012, M/s. APL Infrastructure Private Limited, a promoter group entity, exercised its right to convert balance 641,953 warrants into Equity Shares at a price of Rs.176 each. Accordingly, 641,953 Equity Shares having a nominal value of Rs.10 each were allotted to M/s. APL Infrastructure Private Limited on 21 June 2012 at a premium of Rs.166 per share aggregating to Rs.11.30 crore.

During the financial year ended 31 March 2013, APL Apollo Tubes achieved the highest ever volume of ~4,64,000 tonnes despite the deceleration in the global and domestic economy. The completion of the de-bottlenecking measures and the functioning of the new line at Murbad, near Mumbai has aided in increased operational efficiency and higher production in the financial year under review. Three additional warehouse-cum-branches were opened at Solan and two in Ahmedabad to cater to the burgeoning demand in various industrial applications, thereby, strengthening the APL Apollo brand.

During the financial year ended 31 March 2014, APL Apollo Tubes achieved the highest ever volume, turnover despite the deceleration in the global and domestic economy. The company achieved a volume growth of above 25% for the year. The company extended its geographical reach to the end-users, strengthen its presence in tier II and tier III cities either via own warehouse cum branches or through dealer-distributors network. Additional warehouse-cum-branches were opened at Ananthapur, Dehradun and Jodhpur to cater to the burgeoning demand in various industrial applications, thereby, strengthening the APL Apollo brand.

The company increased its production from 464,000 tonnes in FY2012-13 to 572,000 tonnes in FY2013-14, a growth of 24%. During the year under review, the company completed a capex of Rs 1100 million.

On 13 August 2013, APL Apollo Tubes allotted 1,115,000 Equity Shares having a nominal value of Rs 10/- each to Mr. Ashok Kumar Gupta, a person considered as promoter, upon conversion of equal number of warrants.

During the financial year ended 31 March 2015, APL Apollo Tubes recorded the highest ever volume, despite the adverse conditions across the globe. The strategy and steps taken by the company in designing new products in steel tubes and pipes segment by innovative means has succeeded in a big way with the production and launch products like color coated pipes for the first time in India and window / door frames which have been designed and patented by the company will further boost the sales of the company as demand for these products is expected to grow significantly in rural and semi-urban areas of the country. The launch of color coated pipes is seen as a testimony to the company's strength and abilities in the Steel Tubes and Pipe segment. During the year under review, the company opened an additional warehouse-cum branch at Chandigarh to cater to the burgeoning demand for its products, across various industrial applications, thereby, strengthening the APL Apollo brand.

During the year under review, the company raised its capacity to almost 1.05 million tonnes and this represents a 31% rise in capacity over the last year.

During the year under review, credit rating agency M/s ICRA Limited upgraded the long-term rating from '[ICRA] A-' to '[ICRA] A' and has reaffirmed the short-term rating of '[ICRA] A1' to the company. The outlook on the long-term rating is stable.

During the financial year ended 31 March 2016, APL Apollo Tubes achieved the highest ever volume once again and break its previous volume, despite the adverse conditions across the globe. The continued focus on brand image exercise and extending the geographical reach to the end-users, strengthened the company's presence in Tier II and Tier III cities either via own warehouse cum branches or through dealer-distribution network. The dealer-distribution network increased significantly to 600. The effective steps towards measures to enhance cost efficiency across the verticals, innovative approach in production and distribution of the products helped the company to control the manufacturing, selling and distribution cost.

During the year under review, the company commissioned 5 new lines across all existing plant thereby enhancing the capacity from 10.50 lacs TPA to 13 lacs TPA. During the year under review, the company ordered 8 lines of new HSU technology mills that will add over 5 lacs TPA at the existing sites and Raipur in FY 2017.

The Board of Directors of APL Apollo Tubes at its Meeting held on 13 June 2015 approved the Scheme of Amalgamation of Lloyds Line Pipes Limited (wholly owned subsidiary) with the company to enable consolidation and further expansion of the company. The amalgamation would achieve economies of scale, and other operational synergies which would result in the optimization of operation and capital expenditure and lead to increased competitive strength, cost reduction and efficiencies, productivity gains by pooling the financial, managerial and technical resources, personnel capabilities, skill expertise and technologies of both the companies.

During the financial year ended 31 March 2017, APL Apollo Tubes achieved the highest ever volume number. During the year under review, the company ordered nine lines of new DFT technology mills out of which two commissioned and seven will be commissioned between July 2017 and March 2018 that will add over 0.5 MTPA at the existing sites. During the year under review, the company started commissioning of Greenfield plant at Raipur, to be fully operational by September 2017. During the year under review, M/s Blue Ocean Projects Private Limited became subsidiary of APL Apollo Tubes.

During the year under review, the company appointed branding consultant as part of a comprehensive integrated marketing strategy to create the name APL APOLLO synonymous with the ERW steel pipes.

The Company had three wholly owned subsidiaries as on March 31, 2019, namely Shri Lakshmi Metal Udyog Limited (SLMUL), Apollo Metalex Private Limited (AMPL) and Blue Ocean Projects Private Limited.

The Company, through its wholly owned subsidiary Shri Lakshmi Metal Udyog Limited (SLMUL), acquired stake in Apollo Tricoat in FY19. The acquisition was made to enable the company expand its product portfolio in high-margin coated pipe segment and to exploit synergies between the businesses of Shri Lakshmi Metal Udyog and Apollo Tricoat. The Tricoat products span three variants - SureCoat, DuraCoat and SuperCoat and are made through the latest Galvant technology. These In-Line Galvanizing (IGL) pipes and Hybrid pipes (PVC+GP), are eco-friendly and can be used as a substitute of PVC electrical Conduit Pipes.

During FY 2019, the Company undertook certain de-bottlenecking initiatives at the latest Direct Forming Technology (DFT) lines. This led to capacity enhancement of 1 lakh MTPA, taking the DFT capacity to 6 lakh MTPA and the total capacity to 2.1 million MTPA.

During the year 2019, the Board of Directors in their meeting held on October 18, 2018 approved acquisition of majority stake of Apollo TriCoat Tubes Limited (AATL) by Shri Lakshmi Metal Udyog Limited (SLMUL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Company by way of entering into a Share Purchase agreement (SPA) for acquisition of 8,030,030 equity shares and options attached to 4,300,000 warrants. Pursuant to Agreement, SLMUL made an open offer, which got completed on February 01, 2019. SLMUL acquired 1,325,000 equity shares representing 5.16% of the paid-up share capital of AATL from open market and 1,536,209 equity shares representing 5.98% of the paid-up share capital of AATL as tendered under open offer.

During the financial year 2019, the Company allotted 117,076 equity shares of Rs. 10 each at a price of Rs. 452.60 (including premium of Rs. 442.60) and allotted 3,500 equity shares of Rs. 10 each at a price of Rs. 1028.80 (including premium of Rs. 1018.80). Subsequent to year end, the Company allotted of 4,00,000 Equity shares and 5,00,000 fully convertible warrants on preferential basis to APL Infrastructure Private Limited, an entity belonging to Promoter category at an issue price of Rs. 1800/- per share and Rs. 2000/- per warrant respectively.

In FY2020, Company acquired the unit of Taurus Value Steel & Pipes Private Limited at Hyderabad and controlling stake in Apollo Tricoat Tubes Ltd., of which, it enhanced capacity to 2.5 MTPA.

The Company had five wholly-owned subsidiaries as on March 31, 2020, namely Shri Lakshmi Metal Udyog Limited (SLMUL), Apollo Metalex Private Limited (AMPL), Blue Ocean Projects Private Limited, APL Apollo Building Products Private Limited and APL Apollo Tubes FZE. Further, it has one step down subsidiary named Apollo Tricoat Tubes Limited (ATTL).

During the year 2019-20, the Company incorporated its first-ever international wholly owned subsidiary named 'APL Apollo Tubes FZE', at the Jebel Ali Free zone in Dubai. Also, it incorporated another wholly owned subsidiary named APL Apollo Building Products Private Limited in India.

In August 2019, Company allotted 4,00,000 Equity shares and 5,00,000 fully convertible warrants on preferential basis to APL Infrastructure Private Limited, which were converted into equity shares.

The Company had 5 wholly-owned subsidiaries as on March 31, 2021, namely Shri Lakshmi Metal Udyog Limited (SLMUL), Apollo Metalex Private Limited (AMPL), Blue Ocean Projects Private Limited, APL Apollo Building Products Private Limited and APL Apollo Tubes FZE. Further, it has one step down subsidiary named Apollo Tricoat Tubes Limited (ATTL), subsidiary of SLMUL.

On 27 February 2021, the Board of Directors of Company, at their meeting approved a Scheme of Amalgamation of Shri Lakshmi Metal Udyog Limited and Apollo Tricoat Tubes Limited with the Company and their respective shareholders and creditors, under Sections 230 to 232 of the Companies Act, 2013 from the National Company Law Tribunal, Delhi bench (NCLT), BSE Limited, National Stock Exchange of India Limited and approval of other regulatory or statutory authorities.

On 03 December, 2020, the face value of Company's equity shares was sub-divided from Rs. 10 into 5 equity shares of Rs. 2 each pursuant to the approval granted by the Members.

In FY'21, Company signed MOU with Zamil Steel Buildings India to develop a market for pre-engineered steel buildings (PEB) made from structural steel tubes. It invested in two warehouses in North (Noida) and East (Raipur) which will service its distribution network in these regions. It invested in new-age technologies which enabled to launch path-breaking products in the Indian markets. It brought to India high-speed mills from Europe, which increased speed by 5x, strip galvanizing lines and the unique Rotary Sizing Mills. It introduced pre-galvanized tubes (GP) in India for the first time in 2003. Recently, it introduced the cutting-edge DFT technology into India which enabled to customise products in a cost effective manner. Apollo Tricoat, which manufactures and markets first-time products to the Indian markets, became a subsidiary of APL Apollo in FY20. It installed a GP Lines (galvanized Tubes) from the Hyderabad units at Raipur and Murbad to increase their volume of value-added products. It commenced CRM facilities at Murbad and Hosur; it installed one heavy rolling mill at Sikandrabad unit to manufacture high thickness Structural Tubes from the automobile sector. It increased the capacity of Apollo Tricoat by 0.10 Mn TPA in FY21. It worked on development of interesting products like Colour Coated Tubes and 500x500 Sq dia columns. It expanded its Robotics Process Automation solution from creating purchase order for raw material to include processing Goods Received Notes.

The Company had six wholly-owned subsidiaries as on March 31, 2022, namely Shri Lakshmi Metal Udyog Limited (SLMUL), Apollo Metalex Private Limited (AMPL), Blue Ocean Projects Private Limited, APL Apollo Building Products Private Limited, APL Apollo Mart Limited and APL Apollo Tubes FZE. Further, it has one step down subsidiary named Apollo Tricoat Tubes Limited (ATTL), subsidiary of SLMUL.

In March 2022, the company through its newly incorporated subsidiary named APL Apollo Mart Limited had bought 10,00,000 equity shares of Rs. 10 each of Shankara Building Products Limited through which, Shankara approved issuance of 14,00,000 convertible warrants at a price of Rs. 750/-per warrant to APL Apollo Mart Limited.

On September 20, 2021, Company allotted 12,48,96,000 equity shares of face value of Rs. 2/- each as fully-paid up bonus equity shares, in the ratio of One equity share of Rs. 2/- each for every One existing equity share of Rs. 2/- each.

In 2022-23, Shri Lakshmi Metal Udyog Limited and Apollo Tricoat Tubes Limited merged with the Company through the Scheme of Amalgamation effective from October 31, 2022. During the year 2022-23, the Company incorporated another wholly owned subsidiary named 'A P L Apollo Tubes Company LLC', under Umm Al Quwain (UAQ) authority in UAE.

In 2023, the Company launched two products, one is 500 square in the heavy structural segment and second is coated products for roofing application at Raipur Plant; it launched 500 square diameter mill and the colour-coded products, which are mainly used for roofing and wall cladding.