To launch new products in 6 months: Ludlow Jute

The total income for the whole fiscal was also up 53 percent at Rs 355.39 crore versus Rs 232.07 crore reported for FY15.

Ludlow is front runner in the Indian jute industry with innovative products. Ludlow has developed products like Jute Mesh/Scrim for Roofing Felt, Agriculture, Horticulture and Webbing for Furniture Industry, Rubber Bonded jute cloth for Landscaping, special fabrics for Furnishing and Apparel, Soil Saver known as Geo-textile and Carpet-backing cloth.Below is the verbatim transcript of Ajay Todi's interview with Latha Venkatesh and Sonia Shenoy on CNBC-TV18.Sonia: The growth on the topline has been quite strong at 24 percent. What led to that and what do you think the growth could be over the next couple of quarters?A: We are basically focused on capacity utilisation and value addition. We have been able to utilise the capacities, production is up and also in terms of value added products, in terms of looking at technical fabrics and looking at jute bags, that has helped us to increase the volumes.Latha: What is your capacity utilisation?A: In the jute industry, capacity utilisation varies depending on the kind of products.Latha: Is there scope for repeating your revenue runrate of 25 percent?A: In terms of the growth rate, I would say that it is also driven by the fact that raw jute prices have been higher. Our volumes are higher by about 25 percent, which has given up the growth. To some extent, this growth is also driven by the fact that selling prices have gone up.Sonia: On a base of Rs 350 crore of revenues that you are sitting on in FY16, what kind of growth do you forecast for FY17?A: At present, we are not looking at very big numbers. We are consolidating and focusing on improving efficiency so that the bottomline increases.Latha: Let me look at the EBITDA itself, the runrate appears to be about Rs 4 crore. So is that what you will do for FY17 or will you do more than Rs 4 crore a quarter as well margins, would it be stagnating around 3.5-4 percent or will even that improve?A: I would imagine that we should be doing slightly better than that.Latha: Give us some indication, EBITDA would be Rs 20 crore?A: It is a volatile business.Sonia: How is the demand situation currently and how is the business environment, has it improved a lot compared to what we have seen in the last six-eight months?A: The business environment in the jute industry depends on how you want to look at it. We have a passion for jute, we believe that we are there in the long run in this industry. We work ethically and that gives us an edge in terms of the markets.Latha: Debt and receivables have gone up and cash has gone down, that is a spot of bother. Will you be able to service the debt, why are the receivables rising and rising how, Rs 17 crore has become Rs 25 crore?A: These are very healthy receivables, we have already received most of that in the first week of April. So the receivables is not a worry at all and in terms of the working capital, the increase in that, basically we buy jute where we have been able to pay upfront. That is the difference.Sonia: Can you tell us more about what kind of products you are looking at launching over the next six-twelve months? You have stuck to conventional products like teabag clothes, sacking clothes etc, but any new launches that you would be looking at to diversify?A: We are looking at some consumer oriented projects. We are looking at the products that the public can use, some of the projects will come in the next six months.