Confidence Petroleum India Ltd (CONFIPET) Q1FY27 Concall Transcript - Jun-2026 Qtr
Moderator: Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Confidence Petroleum India Limited Q1 FY27 earnings conference call hosted by Go India Advisors. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode and there'll be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Ms. Sakshi Shah from Go India Advisors. Thank you and over to you, ma'am.
Sakshi Shah (Go India Advisors): Good afternoon, everyone and welcome to the Q1 FY27 earnings call of Confidence Petroleum India Limited, hosted by Go India Advisors. We have on the call Mr. Nitin Khara, Sir, Chairman and Managing Director, Mrs. Prachi Khara, promoter, and Ms. Preeti Bhabhra, Company Secretary. We must remind you that the discussion on today's call may include certain forward-looking statements and must be, therefore, viewed in conjunction with the risk that the company faces. May I now request Ms. Preeti Bhabhra to take us through the financials, followed by Ms. Prachi Khara to discuss on the business outlook. Subsequent to which we will open the floor for Q&A. Thank you, and over to you, Ms. Preeti.
Preeti Bhabhra (Confidence Petroleum India Limited): Thank you, Sakshi. Good afternoon, everyone and welcome to the quarter 1 financial year '26-'27, the quarter ended 30th June 2026 earnings conference call of Confidence Petroleum India Limited. It gives us great pleasure to update you on the performance of the company, and more importantly on the progress we are making towards building a larger, more integrated, and diversified energy infrastructure platform. I trust you have had the opportunity to go through our results, which were filed with the exchange on 11th August 2026. I am pleased to report that Confidence Petroleum has delivered one of its strongest quarter yet with broad-based growth across our business. On a consolidated basis, revenue from operation for Q1 FY '26-'27 came in at approximately 2,408 crores, up about 117% year-on-year from 110- 1,112 crores in Q1 FY '26 and up about 98% sequentially from 1,216 crore in quarter 4 financial year '26. EBITDA for the quarter was approximately 147 crores, up roughly 64% year-on-year and 45% sequentially. While profit after tax more than tripled year-on-year to approximately 62.6 crores, compared to 20.4
Preeti Bhabhra (Confidence Petroleum India Limited): crores in the corresponding quarter last year and grew nearly 82% over the preceding quarter. Basic EPS for the quarter stood at 1.86 on a consolidated basis. This performance was driven overwhelmingly by strong volume growth across our LPG businesses. Now would like to ask Mrs. Prachi Khara to give the key highlights of the business.
Prachi Khara (Confidence Petroleum India Limited): A very warm welcome to everyone joining the call. I'm pleased to share that our company has delivered its highest ever quarterly performance achieving record revenue, EBITDA and PAT, as Ms. Priti Babla has highlighted. This milestone reflects the strength of our business model, the dedication of our team and our continued focus on sustainable growth and operational excellence. We are confident that this positive momentum will continue in the coming quarters, supported by our strong business fundamentals, expanding operations and focused growth strategy. India is the world's third largest LPG consumer, and with rising household household penetration, increasing industrial demand and growing adoption across mobility and commercial applications, the country's LPG consumption is expected to expand significantly over the coming years. India's LPG market, currently estimated at around 35.04 million metric tons is projected to reach approximately 40 to 42 42 million metric ton by FY 2030, potentially positioning India as the world's largest LPG consumer by 2030. This sustained growth presents significant opportunity across the entire LPG value chain, including sourcing, storage, distribution, bottling, manufacturing and allied infrastructure. India's LPG market is predominantly driven by OMC sales, which accounts for approximately 94% of cumulative LPG sales. Private marketers contribute the remaining 6%. Within the private marketing segment, CPIL holds a significant 33% share. Confidence Petroleum has built a seamlessly integrated energy ecosystem, spanning the entire LPG value chain from procurement and bulk industrial supply, to bottling, storage, transportation, distribution and end-user delivery. Over the last several years, we have consciously invested in an integrated platform covering LPG sourcing, bottling, storage, logistics, distribution, cylinder manufacturing, Auto LPG and CNG infrastructure. Today, the company operates ships on time charter, more than 68 LPG bottling and blending plants, 478+ LPG road tankers, 225+ LPG HCVs and LCVs and a network of more than 3,150 LPG dealers. We also serve 3,400+ HORECA customers and more than 300 industrial customers. Our infrastructure includes more than 315 Auto LPG dispensing stations and a growing CNG network of over 50 stations. In addition to this, we operate 82 CNG road vehicles, 15 cylinder manufacturing plants and 3 high-pressure cylinder manufacturing plants. At Confidence Petroleum, our journey of nearly 3 decades has built has been built around 1 fundamental principle, being a reliable partner in both certain and uncertain times. Over the years, we have established ourselves as a trusted LPG supply partner through consistent execution, strong sourcing capabilities and, most importantly, our ability to ensure uninterrupted supplies to customers. This capability was particularly tested during the recent geopolitical disruptions in West Asia, which significantly impacted global LPG trade and made sourcing cargoes considerably more challenging. India was particularly affected because of its high independence on imported LPG. The recent geopolitical situation also demonstrated the value of our diversified sourcing network. While several market participants faced challenges in procuring cargoes from the Middle East, our long-standing sourcing relationships and integrated import infrastructure enabled us to respond swiftly. We successfully diversified procurement across alternate geographies, including North America, Africa and other sourcing regions, thereby ensuring continuity of supply. Despite these challenges, Confidence continued to secure cargoes and maintain uninterrupted supplies to its customers. More importantly, what started as a response to a period of disruption has developed into a meaningful structural opportunity for the company. Several marquee customers, who initially engaged with Confidence during this challenging period, have subsequently entered into the longer-term procurement arrangements with us. During the quarter, we expanded our GoGas packed LPG customer base in HORECA segment to more than 3,400 accounts and increased our GoGas dealer network to over 3,150 dealers. This, in addition to our view, validates the strength of our sourcing capabilities, execution infrastructure and customer relationships. In bulk LPG, we added new accounts across sectors such as FMCG, food supply processing, glass, ceramics, further strengthening our direct to industry supply model. We
Prachi Khara (Confidence Petroleum India Limited): basis of approximately 300 industrial customers. Most importantly, a meaningful part of our Q1 performance was volume led rather than purely price led. We have secured a number of new bulk and institutional customers under short to medium term supply arrangements providing us with greater revenue visibility and a stronger base for sustained volume growth in the coming quarters. Therefore, we do not view Q1 as a one-off performance. We entered the quarter with strong underlying momentum in our core businesses and we expect this momentum to continue supported by structural growth of India's LPG market. This integrated ecosystem enables us to serve a diversified customer base across industrial, commercial, automotive and residential segments, while generating meaningful synergies across sourcing, manufacturing, logistics, and distribution. More importantly, our integrated model allows us to participate in multiple stages of the energy value chain rather than depending on a single business segment. We are building an energy infrastructure platform with multiple avenues for growth, recurring customer relationships, and increasing utilization of our existing assets. One of the key pillars of this strategy is our asset life dispen- dispensing station or ALDS model. We currently operate more than 315 Auto LPG dispen- dispensing stations, and continue to see significant potential for further expansion. Our clear objective is to position Auto LPG as an economical and sustainable alternative vehicular fuel in India. The economics of this model are particularly attractive, with a new ALDS station having an estimated payback period of less than 18 months. This provides us with an opportunity to scale the network while maintaining capital efficiency. We expect incremental revenue from this segment to translate into stronger earnings and cash generation. During the quarter, our Auto LPG business witnessed a temporary slowdown due to higher LPG prices, which impacted demand across the industry. During the period of supply constraints, we strategically prioritized bulk LPG supplies to industrial customers, and PCD supplies to ensure uninterrupted availability of cooking gas to our HoReCa and industrial customers. We also continued to support PSU during this period. This approach reflects our commitment to supporting our customers, ensuring continuity of essential energy supplies, and contributing to nation building, particularly during the periods of crisis and supply disruption. As market conditions have started stabilizing, Auto LPG volumes across our ALDS network are recovered. We are seeing a steady improvement, supported by focused marketing initiatives, customer outreach, and continued expansion of the network. On part of CNG retailing, we have completed more than 50 stations and are on track to commission an additional 50 stations as they become operational. We are also in active discussions with other city gas distribution players to expand our CNG network into additional cities. Coming to our Packed LPG segment, we continue to focus on strengthening the customer proposition under our GoGas brand. We have introduced the Ginko Lo, Ginko Do initiative, which follows a pay-for-actual consumption approach. Under this model, returned cylinders are weighed and the customers receive credit for any unused LPG. While the direct financial impact of this initiative is not our primary objective, we believe it enhances the transparency and creates greater trust with customers. For us, customer retention and long-term relationships are becoming increasingly important alongside customer acquisition. Our objective is to ensure that customers choose Confidence, not nearly because of LPG pricing, but because of reliability, transparency, availability, and service quality. On profitability, I would like to highlight that the increase in LPG prices during the quarter resulted in significant increase in reported revenue. However, this revenue growth was largely driven by higher product prices rather than a fundamental change in the underlying economics of the business. Despite the elevated LPG prices and the corresponding increase in revenue, our margins remained broadly intact, reflecting disciplined pricing and efficient business operations. Consequently, while revenue growth was supported by higher realizations, we believe that the strong growth in absolute EBITDA and PAT provides a more meaningful reflection of the company's underlying operation performance and profitability during the quarter. Q1 FY '27 has taken our momentum significantly further with revenue crossing Rs. 2,408 crores and PAT crossing- exceeding Rs. 66 crores. We believe the opportunity ahead is substantially larger than the reported quarterly numbers. The investments made over the last several years have created a strong platform across sourcing, manufacturing, bottling, logistics, distribution, and dispensing. Turning to capital allocation, our operations continue to generate strong and growing cash flows. With this financial strength, we are actively evaluating opportunities for backward integration across the value chain. Looking ahead, our strategy remains focused on four key priorities. First, we will continue expanding our distribution and dispensing network, particularly across packaged LPG, Auto LPG and CNG. Second, we will focus on imp-
Prachi Khara (Confidence Petroleum India Limited): utilization of the assets already deployed and converting the investments made over the last few years into stronger earnings and cash flows. Third, we will deepen customer relationships through reliable sourcing, uninterrupted supply, and differentiated service offerings. And fourth, we will continue to pursue backward integration wherever required with the objective of strengthening our supply chain, improving operational efficiency, reducing dependency on intermediaries, and enhancing long-term value creation. The recent industry disruptions demonstrated our ability to execute under challenging circumstances. More importantly, the customer relationships and capabilities developed during this period can create lasting value even as market conditions normalize. Our philosophy remains unchanged. Execute consistently, invest ahead of our demand, maintain financial discipline, improve capital productivity, and build long-term customer relationships. At Confidence Petroleum, our objective is not simply to participate in the energy transition. It is to build the infrastructure that enables it. With that, I would like to thank all our shareholders, investors, customers, employees, and partners for their continued support and trust. We are confident about the opportunities ahead and remain committed to creating sustainable long-term value for all our stakeholders. Thank you. I would now like to hand over the call for the moderator for the Q&A session.
Moderator: Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Participants, you may press star and one to ask a question. Ladies and gentlemen, you may press star and one to ask a question. Ladies and gentlemen, you may press star and one to ask a question. The first question is from the line of Ankur, individual investor. Please go ahead.
Ankur: Good evening, everyone. Congratulations on a fantastic set of numbers. So, my and also your first concall for I really congratulate and I hope you continue this in future, as well. My question is regarding the setup of the Type 4 high pressure cylinders that you have been giving in your presentation. So, what is the status of that, and when the what is the timeline for the plant to begin?
Prachi Khara (Confidence Petroleum India Limited): Can we answer? Hello. Are we audible? Are we audible?
Moderator: Yes, ma'am. We can hear you.
184 more turns of this transcript: log in to Stocksigma to read the full call.