With the inclusion of orders finalised in April and May this fiscal year, the order book for the Chennai-based Data Patterns India Ltd is in excess of ₹1,000 crore, said the company’s Chairman and Managing Director S Rangarajan. As of March 31, 2023, Data Patterns India’s order book stood at ₹924 crore, up almost 2X as compared to last year.
In FY2023, the Chennai-based company secured several significant contracts, including radar orders valued at ₹449 crores from DRDO, Bharat Electronics and the Department of Space, encompassing development and production.
Electronic warfare development order worth ₹53 Crores from DRDO, and there were production orders for BrahMos for ₹40 crore. “I anticipate a significant order booking in FY2024 and most of that will be from Data Patterns’ own products with single entry tenders,” he told analysts recently.
Revenue for FY23 increased by 46 per cent to ₹453 crore as against ₹311 crore in the previous year. The company exceeded initially 25-30 per cent early growth guidance achieving a 46 per cent growth for the year. PAT grew 32 per cent year-on-year to ₹124 crore (₹94 crore).
“My focus in the last few years has been to smoothen the revenue profile over the quarters rather than rely on the big fourth quarter. The Q4 as a percentage of annual revenue has come down from 70 per cent in FY2021 to 41 per cent in FY2023,” Rangarajan said.
“I am confident that we will continue to grow PAT at 30 per cent for the next several years. As you know, we are in an investment phase and continue investing in people, technology, and infrastructure.
Giving some visibility on FY2024, Rangrajan expects the EBITDA margin to be around 40 per cent. The FY2023 has been a momentous year for the company on the order booking front with order inflows for the year crossing ₹900 croremark up more than 3X from the last year, he said.
India is traditionally used to importing major parts for our Defence. The company will try to build those products which are being imported simply. “This can be ordered in India and we do that with India technology, then EBITDA, gross margins and the bottom line that we are looking at will get maintained,” he said.
The company raised equity through QIP and will take advantage of significant opportunities presented. Investors have entrusted the company with ₹500 crore, which will be utilised to develop new products in areas like radars, electronic warfare, communications and satellite. These products will be introduced in the domestic market and subsequently expanded in the export market. These products will be a significant growth driver in the company over the next three to five years, he said.
On the availability of chips, Rangarajan said, “at the present moment the company does not have great challenges which we have faced one-and-a-half years back.”
Crisil Ratings in March this year upgraded its ratings on the bank facilities of Data Patterns to ‘CRISIL A-/Positive/CRISIL A2+’ from ‘CRISIL BBB+/Stable/CRISIL A2’. The rating action reflects sustained and further expected improvement in the credit profile of the company. Operating performance has seen significant improvement in the current fiscal backed by a strong order book and superior development and execution capabilities, the rating agency said.
The company’s share price on the National Stock Exchange closed at ₹1,878, up by ₹71.35 or 3.95 per cent.