Expect to maintain 10-12% topline growth in FY17: Jayant Agro

In an interview with Vikram Udeshi, Chief Financial Officer, Jayant Agro, says the company is most likely to maintain a 10-12 percent topline growth in the current fiscal. The company had reported a 11.5 percent growth in its topline in the first quarter of FY17.  The company's value added business is continuing to grow, says Udeshi. But with delayed rains in the castor growing regions of Gujarat, the commodity business could take a hit. But he reassures that late rains will not harm the crop in any way.Jayant's long-term debt was at Rs 12 crore at the end of FY16. But the working capital debt was a little higher due to the period between February and May being the major months of procurement of castor.Below is the transcript of Vikram Udeshi’s interview to Nigel D’souza and Reema Tendulkar on CNBC-TV18.Reema: Let me come to your top line growth. At 11.5 percent, could you break that up in volumes as well as pricing and what is the outlook on the topline for the full year?A: Topline also continues to grow at a healthy double digit towards the mid-teens in terms of volumes and because of the fall in prices, we are looking at around a 10-11 percent growth in topline in terms of a rupee number. Reema: That is for FY17, 10-11 percent is your guidance?A: Yes, 1-12 percent was my guidance and we continue with that guidance, maybe with a slightly positive bias. Nigel: was just looking at your numbers. Everything is looking good, but the finance cost on a sequential basis, it is up more than 30 percent, one of my colleagues tells me that. Why exactly did that happen? What exactly is the debt position?A: To give you an overview on the debt, the long-term debt is only at Rs 12 crore as on March end and the rest of the debt is all short-term debt which is working capital debt. If you understand, this is a seasonal part of the business. It is an agri based commodity which is our main raw material for the company and February, March, April and May, these are the main procurement months, so stock levels are usually higher during these periods which is leading to higher working capital utilisation.Reema: Is there scope for pricing to go up for the company?A: The pricing has been based on the product mix which the company has adopted and that has resulted in a better pricing and better EBITDA margin. We hope to continue with that. Going further, we think the growth might not expand so rapidly which has been seen in the past. But, we continue to hold this margin, that is the expectation as of now, again subject to the caveat of the commodity part of the business.