Rating Rationale
January 28, 2020 | Mumbai
Sarat Chatterjee & Co. (VSP) Private Limited
Rated amount enhanced
 
Rating Action
Total Bank Loan Facilities Rated Rs.395 Crore (Enhanced from Rs.337 Crore)
Long Term Rating CRISIL A/Stable (Reaffirmed)
Short Term Rating CRISIL A1 (Reaffirmed)
1 crore = 10 million
Refer to annexure for Details of Instruments & Bank Facilities
Detailed Rationale

CRISIL has reaffirmed its ratings on the bank loan facilities of Sarat Chatterjee & Co. (VSP) Private Limited (Sarat) at 'CRISIL A/Stable/CRISIL A1'.
 
The ratings continue to reflect the group's established market position in the transportation and logistics services, supported by promoters' experience and reputed and diversified clientele. The ratings also factor in the group's healthy financial risk profile marked by its large net worth, moderate gearing and healthy debt protection metrics. These strengths are partially offset by increasing competition and susceptibility to economic cycles.

Analytical Approach

For arriving at its ratings, CRISIL has combined the business and financial risk profiles of Bothra Shipping Services Private Limited (Bothra), Sarat and Haldia Floating Terminal Pvt Ltd (Haldia). This is because the three companies, together referred to as the Bothra group, have common promoters, operate in similar lines of business, and have significant operational linkages and fungible cash flows. For earlier rating exercise rating was arrived by consolidating Bothra and Sarat.

Please refer Annexure - List of Entities Consolidated, which captures the list of entities considered and their analytical treatment of consolidation.

Key Rating Drivers & Detailed Description
Strengths
* Strong business risk profile and established market position:
Established market position in port operations supported by the experience of the promoters and a reputed and diversified customer base. The group is expected to register growth of 25-30% in revenues for 2019-20 while sustaining operating margins. Also, group has diversified presence in east coast more than 15 cranes deployed at various ports. CRISIL believes group will maintain its established market position backed by an established brand and strong operational capabilities.
 
* Healthy financial risk profile:
Group's financial risk profile is healthy marked by its large net worth, moderate gearing and healthy debt protection metrics. Net worth is expected to be at Rs 386 Crores as on March 31, 2020 and interest coverage at 3.1 times for fiscal 2019. Due to high debt funded capex incurred for 3 years ending fiscal 2019 the gearing is moderate at an estimated 1.3 times as on March 31, 2019. The group is expected to invest around Rs.62 Crores in a Special Purpose Vehicle- Kalinga International Coal Terminal Paradip Private Limited (Kalinga) for the development of new coal import terminal at Paradip port. The SPV is sponsored along with Kakinada Seaports Limited and Riply & co. The Bothra group is not expected to avail any bank loans for the same. Nevertheless the extent of financial support extended by the Bothra group, and the progress and the performance of Kalinga could have a bearing on Bothra group's financial risk profile over the medium term and will be key monitorable.
 
Weaknesses:
* Vulnerability to intense competition in Industry:
Bothra group is the sole agent for carrying out the stevedoring, cargo handling, and other allied services for coal and fertilizer vessels in the Kakinada Port, Andhra Pradesh. However its operations are exposed to intense competition for cargo handling from other established players in neighbouring ports.
 
* Susceptibility to cyclicality in the economy:
The port operations business is vulnerable to economic cyclicality. Any uncertainty in the economy, such as decrease in cargo handling, can substantially impact profitability. For example, traffic at Bothra's coal terminal has declined for 3 consecutive years ending 2017-18 mainly on account of lower demand for imported thermal coal (with better availability of domestic coal) as well as loss of a key customer for which it was handling domestic coal. This resulted in revenues declining from Rs.102 Crore in 2015-16 to Rs.21 Crore in 2017-18.
Liquidity Adequate

Liquidity profile of Bothra Group is marked by moderate cushion between accruals & repayments, moderate current ratio and high bank limit utilization. Bothra Group is expected to generate cash accruals of around Rs.136-141 crore annually over the medium term to meet its annual repayment obligations of Rs 86 crore. Due to moderate working capital intensive operations, bank limits are highly utilized at above 89% for the past 12 months ending October 2019. Current ratio is moderate at 1.18 times as on March 31, 2019.

Outlook: Stable

CRISIL believes that the Bothra group will continue to benefit from its established market position in port operations supported by the industry experience of its promoters and its reputed and diversified customer base.
 
Rating Sensitivity Factors
Upward Factor
*Sustainable growth in revenues with growth of around 20% with sustained operating margins at 18% resulting in higher cash accruals
*Sustained improvement in financial risk profile
 
Downward Factor
*Any unexpected, large debt-funded capital expenditure and fund support to SPV weakening the capital structure with gearing moving above 2.0 times
* Decline in revenues or profitability impacting the cash accruals
*Any liability arising out of the ongoing service/income tax disputes impacting the financial risk profile, especially liquidity.

About the Group

The Bothra group was set up in 1976 with the establishment of Bothra Shipping by Mr R C Bothra and his family members. The promoters acquired Sarat in 1978.The group is engaged in stevedoring, clearing and forwarding, and allied services. It has operations in several ports, including Kakinada, Visakhapatnam, Krishnapatnam, all in Andhra Pradesh; Mangaluru, in Karnataka; Goa; Haldia, in West Bengal; and Paradip, in Odisha. It is the exclusive operator at Kakinada for handling coal and fertiliser traffic.
 
Kalinga is an SPV of Kakinada Seaports Limited (50% stake), Bothra Shipping Services Pvt Ltd (26% stake) and Riply & co. (24% stake) formed for the development of new coal import terminal at Paradip port on Build'operate'transfer (BOT) basis.
 
Haldia is an SPV in which Bothra shipping services private limited is holding 51% and Ripley group is holding 49%. Operations have been started from April 2018 and has a contract for 15 years. The terminal has a capacity of 4MMTPA.

Key Financial Indicators (Consolidated)
Particulars Unit 2019 2018
Revenue Rs. Cr. 989.73 884.28
Profit After Tax (PAT) Rs. Cr. 33.42 15.81
PAT Margins % 3.4 1.8
Adjusted Debt/Adjusted Networth Times 1.3 1.6
Interest coverage Times 3.0 3.2

Any other information: Not applicable

Note on complexity levels of the rated instrument:
CRISIL complexity levels are assigned to various types of financial instruments. The CRISIL complexity levels are available on www.crisil.com/complexity-levels. Users are advised to refer to the CRISIL complexity levels for instruments that they consider for investment. 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.Cr) Rating Assigned with Outlook
NA Bank Guarantee NA NA NA 98.5 CRISIL A1
NA Bank Guarantee NA NA NA 31 CRISIL A/Stable
NA Cash Credit NA NA NA 80.5 CRISIL A/Stable
NA Long Term Loan NA NA 11-Dec-23 166.53 CRISIL A/Stable
NA Term Loan NA NA 16-Sep-25 17.85 CRISIL A/Stable
NA Proposed Long Term Bank Loan Facility NA NA NA 0.62 CRISIL A/Stable
 
Annexure - List of entities consolidated
Names of Entities Consolidated Extent of Consolidation Rationale for Consolidation
Sarat Chatterjee & Co. (Visakhapatnam) Private Limited Full Same line of business, and have a common management and fungible cash flows.
Bothra Shipping Services Private Limited Full Same line of business, and have a common management and fungible cash flows.
Haldia Floating Terminal Pvt Ltd Full Same line of business, and have a common management and fungible cash flows.
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  265.50  CRISIL A/Stable  03-01-20  CRISIL A/Stable  08-07-19  CRISIL A/Stable  07-05-18  CRISIL A/Stable  07-07-17  CRISIL A/Stable  CRISIL A/Positive 
            29-05-19  CRISIL A/Stable      06-01-17  CRISIL A/Stable   
Non Fund-based Bank Facilities  LT/ST  129.50  CRISIL A/Stable/ CRISIL A1  03-01-20  CRISIL A/Stable/ CRISIL A1  08-07-19  CRISIL A/Stable/ CRISIL A1  07-05-18  CRISIL A1  07-07-17  CRISIL A1  CRISIL A1 
            29-05-19  CRISIL A1      06-01-17  CRISIL A1   
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
Bank Guarantee 31 CRISIL A/Stable Bank Guarantee 31 CRISIL A/Stable
Bank Guarantee 98.5 CRISIL A1 Bank Guarantee 79 CRISIL A1
Cash Credit 80.5 CRISIL A/Stable Cash Credit 60 CRISIL A/Stable
Long Term Loan 166.53 CRISIL A/Stable Long Term Loan 166.53 CRISIL A/Stable
Proposed Long Term Bank Loan Facility .62 CRISIL A/Stable Proposed Long Term Bank Loan Facility .47 CRISIL A/Stable
Term Loan 17.85 CRISIL A/Stable -- 0 --
Total 395 -- Total 337 --
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 Bank Loan Ratings
Criteria for rating entities belonging to homogenous groups

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