Rating Rationale
February 19, 2025 | Mumbai
NACL Spec-Chem Limited
Long-term rating downgraded to 'Crisil BB/Negative'; Short-term rating reaffirmed
 
Rating Action
Total Bank Loan Facilities RatedRs.175 Crore
Long Term RatingCrisil BB/Negative (Downgraded from 'Crisil BB+/Negative')
Short Term RatingCrisil A4+ (Reaffirmed)
Note: None of the Directors on Crisil Ratings Limited’s Board are members of rating committee and thus do not participate in discussion or assignment of any ratings. The Board of Directors also does not discuss any ratings at its meetings.
1 crore = 10 million
Refer to Annexure for Details of Instruments & Bank Facilities

Detailed Rationale

Crisil Ratings has downgraded its rating on the long-term bank facilities of NACL Spec-Chem Ltd (NSCL) to ‘Crisil BB/Negative from Crisil BB+/Negative while short term rating has been reaffirmed at Crisil A4+.

 

The rating has been downgraded on account of a similar rating action on the parent, NACL Industries Ltd (NACL).

 

The ratings continue to reflect the extensive experience of the promoter in the agrochemicals industry and the strong support from the parent, NACL. These strengths are partially offset by weak financial risk profiles and exposure to intense competition, regulatory changes and seasonality in the sector.

Analytical Approach

Crisil Ratings has applied its parent notch-up criteria to factor in the support received from the parent, NACL.

Key Rating Drivers & Detailed Description

Strengths:

  • Extensive experience of the promoter: Supported by an experienced management team, NACL group has built a strong three-decade-long market presence in the agrochemicals segment. The customers are diversified across geographies and include established players in India and export markets. The group sells a wide range of insecticides, fungicides, herbicides and plant growth regulators. Expertise of the promoter, her strong understanding of market dynamics and healthy relationships with customers and suppliers should continue to support the business.

 

  • Strong support from parent: NSCL is a fully owned subsidiary of NACL. The company benefits from financial, operational and managerial support from the parent. The NACL group has extended support to NSCL by enabling them to raise need-based funds through term debt. NACL has also given corporate guarantee to the debt facilities availed by NSCL.

 

Weaknesses:

  • Weak financial risk profile: NSCL has moderate financial risk profile, with moderately leveraged capital structure on account of debt-funded projects and moderate debt protection metrics. However, as the project has been completed and debt repayment has started, the capital structure should improve over the medium term with better accretion to reserve and reduction in term debt. NACL has brought in additional funds in the form of compulsory convertible debentures, which supports the financial risk profile of NSCL.

 

  • Exposure to competition, regulatory changes and seasonality in the agrochemicals sector: The domestic agrochemical formulations industry has numerous organised players with regional presence. As the NACL group is into generic molecules, it faces intense competition from organised as well as unorganised players in the domestic market. Also, the domestic agrochemicals sector is dependent on monsoon and the level of farm income

Liquidity: Stretched

Bank limit utilisation was moderate at 86% for the 12 months through October 2024. Cash accrual is expected to be insufficient against yearly debt obligation of Rs 13-14 crore in fiscal 2025. Need-based funding support by the parent and efficient working capital management will remain key towards timely servicing of debt.

Outlook: Negative

The outlook is negative in line with the outlook of the parent company, NACL.

Rating sensitivity factors

Upward factors:

  • Improvement in liquidity profile with NCA vs RO higher than 1.2 times
  • Improvement in the financial risk profile
  • Upgrade in credit rating of the parent.

 

Downward factors:

  • Lower-than-expected revenue or profitability, resulting in cash accrual less than Rs. 4 crores.
  • Any significant change in strategy of the parent, which could impact the business risk profile of NSCL, or downgrade in the credit rating of the parent

About the Company

NSCL was incorporated in April 2020. It is a part of the NACL group and a wholly owned subsidiary of NACL. The company is set to manufacture agrochemical technical and intermediate for domestic as well as export markets with an installed capacity of 6,000 tonne per annum. It facility is at Dahej Industrial Zone in Gujarat. Ms K Lakshmi Raju is the promoter.

 

About the parent

NACL, incorporated in 1986, manufactures and exports crop protection technical (active ingredient) and formulations. It manufactures all kinds of pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and other plant growth chemicals. The formulation business of the company is mainly in the Indian market, and it sells through a large retail dealer network spread across India; it also has a range of branded formulations. The company has two manufacturing units at Srikakulam and Ethakota in Andhra Pradesh and one research and development centre in Telangana. Ms K Lakshmi Raju is the promoter and Mr M Pavan Kumar manages the operations

Key Financial Indicators

As on/for the period ended March 31

Unit

2024

2023

Operating income

Rs crore

178.79

16.22

Reported profit after tax (PAT)

Rs crore

-12.43

-7.54

PAT margin

%

-6.95

-46.46

Adjusted debt/adjusted networth

Times

1.87

1.64

Interest coverage

Times

0.74

0.23

Any other information: Not Applicable

Note on complexity levels of the rated instrument:
Crisil Ratings` 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.

Crisil Ratings will disclose complexity level for all securities - including those that are yet to be placed - based on available information. The complexity level for instruments may be updated, where required, in the rating rationale published subsequent to the issuance of the instrument when details on such features are available.

For more details on the Crisil Ratings` complexity levels please visit www.crisilratings.com. Users may also call the Customer Service Helpdesk with queries on specific instruments.

Annexure - Details of Instrument(s)

ISIN Name Of Instrument Date Of Allotment Coupon Rate (%) Maturity Date Issue Size (Rs.Crore) Complexity Levels Rating Outstanding with Outlook
NA Cash Credit* NA NA NA 30.00 NA Crisil BB/Negative
NA Letter of Credit NA NA NA 20.00 NA Crisil A4+
NA Proposed Working Capital Facility NA NA NA 2.86 NA Crisil BB/Negative
NA Term Loan NA NA 31-Mar-28 32.36 NA Crisil BB/Negative
NA Term Loan NA NA 31-Mar-28 89.78 NA Crisil BB/Negative

*WCDL and Pre&post shipment Credit are sublimits of CC.

Annexure - Rating History for last 3 Years
  Current 2025 (History) 2024  2023  2022  Start of 2022
Instrument Type Outstanding Amount Rating Date Rating Date Rating Date Rating Date Rating Rating
Fund Based Facilities LT 155.0 Crisil BB/Negative 09-01-25 Crisil BB+/Negative 26-08-24 Crisil BBB/Stable 07-08-23 Crisil A-/Negative 03-10-22 Crisil BBB+/Stable --
      --   -- 23-07-24 Crisil BBB+/Negative 27-07-23 Crisil A-/Stable   -- --
      --   -- 02-02-24 Crisil BBB+/Stable   --   -- --
Non-Fund Based Facilities ST 20.0 Crisil A4+ 09-01-25 Crisil A4+ 26-08-24 Crisil A3+ 07-08-23 Crisil A2+   -- --
      --   -- 23-07-24 Crisil A2 27-07-23 Crisil A2+   -- --
      --   -- 02-02-24 Crisil A2   --   -- --
All amounts are in Rs.Cr.
Annexure - Details of Bank Lenders & Facilities
Facility Amount (Rs.Crore) Name of Lender Rating
Cash Credit& 20 HDFC Bank Limited Crisil BB/Negative
Cash Credit& 10 Axis Bank Limited Crisil BB/Negative
Letter of Credit 20 Axis Bank Limited Crisil A4+
Proposed Working Capital Facility 2.86 Not Applicable Crisil BB/Negative
Term Loan 32.36 Axis Bank Limited Crisil BB/Negative
Term Loan 89.78 HDFC Bank Limited Crisil BB/Negative
&WCDL and Pre&post shipment Credit are sublimits of CC.
Criteria Details
Links to related criteria
Criteria for manufacturing, trading and corporate services sector (including approach for financial ratios)
Basics of Ratings (including default recognition, assessing information adequacy)
Criteria for factoring parent, group and government linkages

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