Rating Rationale
September 24, 2020 | Mumbai
Acore Industries Private Limited
Rating upgraded to 'CRISIL BB-/Stable'
 
Rating Action
Total Bank Loan Facilities Rated Rs.17 Crore (Enhanced from Rs.11 Crore)
Long Term Rating CRISIL BB-/Stable (Upgraded from 'CRISIL B-/Stable')
1 crore = 10 million
Refer to annexure for Details of Instruments & Bank Facilities
Detailed Rationale

CRISIL has upgraded its rating on the long-term bank facilities of Acore Industries Private Limited (AIPL) to 'CRISIL BB-/Stable' from 'CRISIL B-/Stable'.
 
The upgrade reflects improvement in the company's business risk profile and liquidity. The company achieved revenue of Rs 22.6 crore against CRISIL's expectation of Rs 17 crore in fiscal 2020. Revenue was at Rs 30 crore till August in fiscal 2021 and is expected over Rs 70 crore for the fiscal. This will lead to improvement in the financial risk profile and liquidity over the medium term. Expected cash accrual of around Rs 3 crore will be sufficient to meet debt obligation of Rs 1.5 crore in fiscal 2021. The upgrade also takes into account CRISIL's belief that AIPL will continue to improve its business risk profile over the medium term, backed by steady rise in revenue and sustained profitability.
 
The rating reflects the extensive experience of the promoters and the company's moderate financial risk profile. These strengths are partially offset by modest scale of operations in the iron ore industry, vulnerability of operating margin to commodity prices and susceptibility to regulatory risks.

Key Rating Drivers & Detailed Description
Strengths:
* Extensive experience of the promoters: The promoters' experience of more than 10 years and the company's diversified end-user profile will continue to support its business risk profile.
 
* Moderate financial risk profile: Gearing and networth were moderate at 0.68 time and Rs 17.39 crore, respectively, as on March 31, 2020. Debt protection metrics were modest as indicated by interest coverage of 1.37 times and net cash accrual to adjusted debt ratio of 0.04 time in fiscal 2020.
Significant increase in operating margin should drive improvement in the financial risk profile over the medium term.
 
Weaknesses:
* Modest scale of operations in a competitive segment: The iron ore segment is highly fragmented, and has large players that source from their own or leased mines and export directly. AIPL has modest scale of operations, reflected in revenue of Rs 22.60 crore in fiscal 2020.
 
* Vulnerability of operating margin to commodity prices: Metal ore and ferroalloy prices typically exhibit considerable cyclicality, and are highly sensitive to global demand patterns and macroeconomic factors. Accordingly, like any other private miner or alloy producer, AIPL's operating margin will remain vulnerable to changes in commodity prices.
 
* Susceptibility to heightened regulatory risks: Over the past few years, the mining industry has witnessed scams and irregularities (including illegal mining, over-mining, encroachment of forest areas, underpayment of government royalties, and conflicts with the tribal population regarding land rights) in ore-rich states, especially Karnataka, Goa and Odisha. This led to the Supreme Court imposing a ban on mining Furthermore, local agitations and issues in obtaining approvals in regions persist. AIPL's business risk profile will remain constrained by high regulatory risks.
Liquidity Adequate

Cash accrual is expected at Rs 3 crore per annum in the near term, and will be sufficient to meet annual debt obligation of Rs.1.4 crore. The fund-based limit of Rs.6.5 crore was utilised moderately, at 73% on average during the 12 months through August 2020. Furthermore, Covid working capital term loan of Rs.2.6 crore supports liquidity. 

Outlook: Stable

CRISIL believes AIPL will continue to benefit from the extensive entrepreneurial experience of the promoters. 

Rating Sensitivity factors
Upward factors:
* Increase in revenue or operating margin, leading to higher-than-expected net cash accrual
* Improvement in working capital cycle with gross current assets below 150 days

Downward factors:
* Decline in the operating margin to below 6.5% due to volatility in prices or decline in revenue, leading to lower-the-expected net cash accrual.
* Weakening in the financial risk profile.
About the Company

Incorporated in 2015 and based in Karnataka, AIPL is engaged in beneficiation of iron ore and manganese ore. The company is promoted by Ms Anasuya Shivaputrappa and Ms Nirmala Jagdish Melligeri.

Key Financial Indicators
Particulars Unit 2020 2019
Revenue Rs cr 22.60 6.18
Profit after tax Rs cr (1.97) 0.33
PAT margin % (8.7) 5.3
Adjusted debt/adjusted networth Times 0.68 0.7
Interest coverage Times 1.38 2.52

Status of non cooperation with previous CRA:
AIPL has not cooperated with Acuite Ratings and Research Ltd (Acuite) which has classified the company as issuer not cooperative through a release dated December 17, 2019. The reason provided by Acuite is non-furnishing of information for monitoring of ratings.

Any other information: Not applicable

Note on complexity levels of the rated instrument:
CRISIL complexity levels are assigned to various types of financial instruments and are included (where applicable) in the Annexure -- Details of Instrument in this Rating Rationale. For more details on the CRISIL complexity levels, please visit www.crisil.com/complexity-levels.
Annexure - Details of Instrument(s)
ISIN Name of instrument Date of allotment Coupon rate (%) Maturity date Issue size (Rs.Cr) Complexity
Levels
Rating assigned
with outlook
NA Cash Credit NA NA NA 6.5 NA CRISIL BB-/Stable
NA Working Capital Term Loan NA NA Jun-24 2.6 NA CRISIL BB-/Stable
NA Term Loan NA NA Jul-23 7.34 NA CRISIL BB-/Stable
NA Proposed Long Term Bank Loan Facility NA NA NA 0.56 NA CRISIL BB-/Stable
Annexure - Rating History for last 3 Years
  Current 2020 (History) 2019  2018  2017  Start of 2017
Instrument Type Outstanding Amount Rating Date Rating Date Rating Date Rating Date Rating Rating
Fund-based Bank Facilities  LT/ST  17.00  CRISIL BB-/Stable      26-08-19  CRISIL B-/Stable  31-07-18  CRISIL D    --  -- 
All amounts are in Rs.Cr.
Annexure - Details of various bank facilities
Current facilities Previous facilities
Facility Amount (Rs.Crore) Rating Facility Amount (Rs.Crore) Rating
Cash Credit 6.5 CRISIL BB-/Stable Long Term Loan 11 CRISIL B-/Stable
Working Capital Term Loan 2.6 CRISIL BB-/Stable -- 0 --
Term Loan 7.34 CRISIL BB-/Stable -- 0 --
Proposed Long Term Bank Loan Facility .56 CRISIL BB-/Stable -- 0 --
Total 17 -- Total 11 --
Links to related criteria
CRISILs Approach to Financial Ratios
CRISILs Bank Loan Ratings - process, scale and default recognition
Rating criteria for manufaturing and service sector companies
CRISILs Approach to Recognising Default
CRISILs Bank Loan Ratings
The Rating Process
Understanding CRISILs Ratings and Rating Scales

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