Rating Rationale
September 07, 2020 | Mumbai
Sterlite Technologies Limited
'CRISIL AA/Stable' assigned to NCD
 
Rating Action
Total Bank Loan Facilities Rated Rs.4950 Crore
Long Term Rating CRISIL AA/Stable (Reaffirmed)
 
Rs.350 Crore Non Convertible Debentures CRISIL AA/Stable (Assigned)
Rs.650 Crore Commercial Paper CRISIL A1+ (Reaffirmed)
1 crore = 10 million
Refer to annexure for Details of Instruments & Bank Facilities
Detailed Rationale

CRISIL has assigned its 'CRISIL AA/Stable' rating to Rs.350 crore non-convertible debentures of Sterlite Technologies Limited (STL) and reaffirmed its 'CRISIL AA/Stable/CRISIL A1+' ratings on the long-term bank facilities and commercial paper programme
 
The ratings continue to reflect the company's dominant market position in the Indian telecom cables business, strong order book providing healthy revenue visibility, and an adequate financial risk profile. These strengths are partially offset by exposure to intense competition and large working capital requirement.
 
Operating performance was impacted during the first quarter of fiscal 2021 owing to Covid-19 and the resultant disruption in operations. As a result, operating income declined by around 40% in the quarter ended June 2020 as compared to the same period last fiscal. However, operations are improving gradually. Also, strong order book of over Rs 10,000 crore provides healthy revenue visibility for the medium term.
 
Operating income in fiscal 2020 was similar to last fiscal as the company's product segment de-grew due to low capacity additions by various telecom players. However, the services segment was able to support the revenue as it grew by more than 50% in fiscal 2020.
 
The company completed major capital expenditure (capex) in fiscal 2020 of increasing capacities of optical fibre (OF) to 50 million fibre kilometre (mfkm) from 24 mfkm. It has moderate capex of Rs 400 crore spread over fiscals 2021-23 to increase capacity of its optical fibre cables (OFC) to 33 mfkm from 18 mfkm.

Analytical Approach

For arriving at its ratings, CRISIL has combined the business and financial risk profiles of STL with its subsidiaries and joint ventures. STL has significant control over the management of these entities, which are in the same business and are strategically important to the company.

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
* Leadership position in the Indian telecom cables business
STL has a strong reputation in the OF and OFC markets, both locally and globally, driven by its technically superior products. Thus, the company is preferred by OFC manufacturers (for OF) and telecom operators and telecom infrastructure providers (for OFC). Furthermore, STL is a one-stop solution for most clients due to its wide range of system integration and software services. Top quality of products, a widespread clientele, and diversified presence across broadband infrastructure value chain including products, services, and software should help sustain strong foothold in the Indian telecom cables industry over the medium term.
 
* Healthy capability and potential benefits from growth prospects with sizeable order book
STL is among the lowest-cost producers of OF and OFC in the industry because of extensive backward integration. Manufacturing OF from the preform stage offers advantages in terms of cost and quality. The company also has its own plants for power, nitrogen, and electrolysis to meet the need for hydrogen and oxygen. Moreover, it has facilities to produce silicon tetrachloride, the basic raw material for quartz glass manufacturing.
 
Furthermore, all the segments have strong growth prospects, particularly the services division. With expected increase in the penetration of broadband services, the government's focus on rural digitisation, and implementation of smart-city projects on a large scale, the medium-term demand outlook is healthy. Orders, outstanding at Rs 10,312 crore as on June 30, 2020, assure substantial revenue visibility over the medium term.
 
* Adequate financial risk profile
While operating performance and cash accrual will be impacted in fiscal 2021 due to COVID-19 however market leadership position and a strong order book should benefit accrual over the medium term. As a result, net debt to EBITDA should remain below 2 times, despite temporarily increasing to more than 2.1 times in fiscal 2021. Networth was robust at Rs 1,804 crore as on March 31, 2020, while debt protection metrics remained adequate. STL has completed the Rs 2,100 crore capex for increasing its OF capacities; and minimal capex in the future supports the financial risk profile.
 
Weaknesses
* Exposure to intense competition in the overseas market
About one-third of the company's total revenue comes from exports amid intense competition in the international OF and OFC markets. In the domestic market as well, these segments are susceptible to the capex cycles of telecom service providers. Globally, most contracts are finalised through an intensely competitive bidding process, which limits the pricing power of players. However, STL is the largest player and a clear market leader in the domestic market, despite competitive pressure from peers such as Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd, Vindhya Telelinks Ltd (CRISIL A1+), Aksh Optifibre Ltd, and Finolex Cables Ltd (CRISIL AA+/Stable/CRISIL A1+).
 
* Large working capital requirement
Gross current assets, receivables, and inventory were over 200 days, 110 days, and 100 days, respectively, as on March 31, 2020. To balance this, the company is able to negotiate favourable terms with suppliers, leading to stretched payables of around 200 days. Working capital cycle may remain stretched over the medium term, given the significant revenue contribution from the services business and from government projects. Further, the customers' inability to make timely payments due to challenges posed by Covid-19 may result in sizeable short-term borrowings in the interim. While the company has enough wherewithal to manage short-term cash flow mismatches, timely correction in the working capital cycle will remain a rating sensitivity factor.
Liquidity Strong

Liquidity is supported by expected cash accrual of Rs 350 crore in fiscal 2021, cash balance of around Rs 400 crore as on June 30, 2020, and bank lines of over Rs 1,400 crore, which were utilised at an average of 80% during the past 12 months through July 2020. Against these, term debt repayment is Rs 372 crore. Capex of Rs 150 crore in fiscal 2021 is likely to be funded through internal accrual.

Outlook: Stable

Despite the short-term impact of Covid-19, CRISIL believes STL's financial risk profile will remain healthy over the medium term, supported by high operating efficiency and strong growth prospects.

Rating Sensitivity Factors
Upward Factors
* Significant and sustainable improvement in business owing to steady growth in revenue or diversification of product mix, and continued healthy operating margin of over 20%
* Considerable improvement in financial risk profile driven by increase in cash accruals

Downward Factors
* Net debt to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation ratio increasing to over 2 times on a sustained basis due to steep decline in operating performance
* Weakening of financial risk profile because of larger-than-expected, debt-funded capex or acquisitions.

About the Company

STL is a leading manufacturer of OF and OFC. It also has a 75:25 joint venture, Jiangsu Sterlite Tongguang Fiber Co Ltd (JSTFCL), with Jiangsu Tongguang Communication Co Ltd of China. JSTFCL, which has a manufacturing capacity of 7 mfkm of OF in China, commenced operations in April 2013. STL set up a 50:50 joint venture with Conduspar Condutores Eletricos in July 2013 to manufacture OFC in Brazil. In 2015, STL acquired Elitecore Technologies Pvt Ltd, which is a global provider of software products. In 2018, STL acquired Mettalurgica Bresciana, an OFC manufacturer based in Italy.
 
For the three months through June 2020, the company reported a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 2 crore on an operating income of Rs 876 crore, as against a PAT of Rs 143 crore on an operating income of Rs 1,432 crore for the same period previous fiscal.

Key Financial Indicators (CRISIL Adjusted Numbers)
Particulars Unit 2020 2019
Revenue Rs.Crore 5177 5101
Profit After Tax (PAT) Rs.Crore 424 578
PAT Margin % 8.2 11.03
Debt/networth Times 1.36 1.24
Interest coverage Times 4.99 11.0

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.Crore) Complexity level Rating Assigned with Outlook
NA Commercial paper programme NA NA 7-365 days 650.00 Simple CRISIL A1+
NA Cash credit NA NA NA 910.00 NA CRISIL AA/Stable
NA Letter of credit and bank guarantee NA NA NA 3,674.00 NA CRISIL AA/Stable
NA Term loan NA NA Oct-2024 80.00 NA CRISIL AA/Stable
NA Term loan** NA NA NA 170.00 NA CRISIL AA/Stable
NA Proposed long-term bank loan facility NA NA NA 116.00 NA CRISIL AA/Stable
NA Non-Convertible Debentures* NA NA NA 350 Simple CRISIL AA/Stable
*Not yet issued
***yet to be drawn-down
 
Annexure - List of Entities Consolidated
Name of entities Extent of consolidation Rationale for consolidation
Speedon Network Ltd Full Strong managerial, operational, and financial linkages
Sterlite Telesystems Ltd Full Strong managerial, operational, and financial linkages
Elitecore Technologies (Mauritius) Ltd Full Strong managerial, operational, and financial linkages
Elitecore Technologies Sdn Bhd Full Strong managerial, operational, and financial linkages
Sterlite Global Ventures (Mauritius) Ltd Full Strong managerial, operational, and financial linkages
Jiangsu Sterlite Tongguang Fiber Co Ltd Full Strong managerial, operational, and financial linkages
Sterlite Technologies UK Ventures Ltd Full Strong managerial, operational, and financial linkages
Sterlite Tech Holding Inc Full Strong managerial, operational, and financial linkages
Sterlite Technologies Inc Full Strong managerial, operational, and financial linkages
Sterlite Technologies SpA Full Strong managerial, operational, and financial linkages
Metallurgica Bresciana Full Strong managerial, operational, and financial linkages
Sterlite Innovative Solutions Ltd Full Strong managerial, operational, and financial linkages
Sterlite Tech Connectivity Solutions Ltd Full Strong managerial, operational, and financial linkages
Sterlite (Shanghai) Trading Co Ltd Full Strong managerial, operational, and financial linkages
Sterlite Conduspar Industrial Ltd Equity method Joint Venture - Proportionate consolidation
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
Commercial Paper  ST  650.00  CRISIL A1+  14-05-20  CRISIL A1+  04-04-19  CRISIL A1+  13-07-18  CRISIL A1+  18-04-17  CRISIL A1+  -- 
        05-03-20  CRISIL A1+      24-04-18  CRISIL A1+       
Non Convertible Debentures  LT  0.00
07-09-20 
CRISIL AA/Stable    --    --    --    --  -- 
Short Term Debt  ST                      CRISIL A1+ 
Fund-based Bank Facilities  LT/ST  1276.00  CRISIL AA/Stable  14-05-20  CRISIL AA/Stable  04-04-19  CRISIL AA/Stable  13-07-18  CRISIL AA/Stable  18-04-17  CRISIL AA-/Positive  CRISIL AA-/Stable 
        05-03-20  CRISIL AA/Stable      24-04-18  CRISIL AA/Stable       
Non Fund-based Bank Facilities  LT/ST  3674.00  CRISIL AA/Stable  14-05-20  CRISIL AA/Stable  04-04-19  CRISIL AA/Stable  13-07-18  CRISIL AA/Stable  18-04-17  CRISIL AA-/Positive  CRISIL AA-/Stable 
        05-03-20  CRISIL AA/Stable      24-04-18  CRISIL AA/Stable       
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 910 CRISIL AA/Stable Cash Credit 910 CRISIL AA/Stable
Letter of credit & Bank Guarantee 3674 CRISIL AA/Stable Letter of credit & Bank Guarantee 3674 CRISIL AA/Stable
Proposed Long Term Bank Loan Facility 116 CRISIL AA/Stable Proposed Long Term Bank Loan Facility 116 CRISIL AA/Stable
Term Loan 250 CRISIL AA/Stable Term Loan 250 CRISIL AA/Stable
Total 4950 -- Total 4950 --
Links to related criteria
CRISILs Approach to Financial Ratios
CRISILs Bank Loan Ratings - process, scale and default recognition
CRISILs Bank Loan Ratings
CRISILs Criteria for Consolidation
CRISILs Criteria for rating short term debt

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