See 20% growth in electric biz, 10-12% in paper: Orient Ind

ML Pachisia, Managing Director of Orient Paper and Industries expects the paper business to growth at 10-12 percent for FY15 and the electrical business to grow more than 20 percent. He says, the company has aggressively plans for the electric business. The present composition of business is 70 percent electric and 30 percent paper but they plan to take it to 80-20 percent going forward.The company managed to narrow its net loss as well as EBITDA loss in the second quarter ended September, 2014.Orient Paper reported a jump of around 11 percent in total income from Rs 303 crore to Rs 336 crore year-on-year (Y-o-Y). The EBITDA loss was Rs 6 crore versus a loss of Rs 15 crore Y-o-Y, and the EBITDA margin loss for the second quarter stood at 1.8 percent versus loss of 5 percent Y-o-Y. The Y-o-Y net loss was Rs 17 cross versus loss of Rs 26 crore.Below is the transcript of ML Pachisia's interview with Reema Tendulkar and Ekta Batra on CNBC-TV18.Ekta: You have managed to narrow your net loss as well as your EBITDA loss this time around. Can you tell us when would you likely turn into the black on both fronts?A: I hope by the end of the year. Generally for our electric product business, the last quarter is the best quarter. We also expect the paper business to do better in the second half of this year. So hopefully, we should be fine by the end of the year.Reema: So you are expecting to be profitable at the operational level or at the bottomline? A: Operationally as well as hopefully at the bottomline level too.Reema: When you say second half of the year will be better than first half of the year, what can be the expected revenue growth in H2?A: Even in H1, the revenue from the electrical business has grown by more than 20 percent. In paper business also, we have grown by 3 percent but in paper business we have had a 12-day shut down at the plant for maintenance purpose during Q2 and this will not be required in the second half of the year. So we do expect 10-12 percent growth in paper business also.Ekta: Do you expect the consumer business to be the one business which will possibly lead sales in the second half as well as in FY16, what is the proportion that you expect between the two?A: Electric business is the lead business as of now. It is the major part of our portfolio and will continue to grow at much faster pace than the paper business. Right now paper business accounts for about 30 percent and electric business about 70 percent. We have fairly aggressive plans for the electric business and therefore we expect electric business to grow substantially. Ultimately it might become 80:20.