Tag - transition

Tata Motors shifts focus to cars on weak demand for CVs

Update on the Indian Equity Market:

On Friday, NIFTY closed at 12,257 (+0.3% higher than the previous close). Among the stocks, Coal India (+3.3%), Infosys (+1.7%) and Ultratech Cement (+1.6%) were the gainers. Yes Bank (-5.0%), Zee Entertainment (-3.5%), and Indusind Bank (-1.2%) were the top losing stocks. Nifty Realty (+1.8%), Nifty Metal (+1.2%) and Nifty Auto (+0.8%) were the top sectoral gainers while Nifty Pvt Bank (-0.1%) was the only sectoral loser.

Excerpts from an interview with Mr Guenter Butschek, MD & CEO, Tata Motors Ltd published in Livemint on 10th January 2020:

  • Tata Motors Ltd (TML) is betting big on passenger vehicles (PVs) to lead its turnaround plans as it transitions to Bharat Stage-VI emission norms. The move to BS-VI will give the company ‘a much more powerful play’ in the domestic market during the next fiscal.
  • With the new range of products, including upgrades for BS-VI, Mr Butschek is confident that March 2020 would be the turning point. If this gets support from the tailwinds, TML will get back to the previous growth path.
  • Referring to TML’s new product pipeline, including the company’s ambitious electric vehicle plans, Mr Butschek said the company plans to unveil 26 products at next month’s Delhi Auto Expo in February, including the 14 new commercial and 12 new passenger vehicles. This would be the biggest display of new vehicles. TML also plan global unveils of four new vehicles.
  • Mr Butschek termed the transition to BS-VI as ‘the single biggest engineering and investment effort ever’ put in by TML. He said a team of 3,500 engineers worked on BS-VI projects, upgrading over 20 engine platforms, 100 lead vehicle models and 1,000 variants. TML invested more than ₹ 1,200 crore in FY19 and hired 500 additional engineers for the process.
  • According to him, TML’s turnaround story in PVs and CVs is inspiring in terms of cost reduction. The Company has been able to reduce their breakeven point during tough times which is clear proof that they have done their homework. They are done with their investments and now they need is the volumes.
  • One key step was to bring down product development costs in its common vehicle architecture, which would form the base for several upcoming models.
  • In PVs, it has developed flexible vehicle platforms, code-named Alpha and Omega, which would power up to 12-14 new nameplates in the near- to mid-term. The new premium hatchback Altroz is going to be the first model from its Alpha architecture. The two modular platforms will also power the range of electric cars planned by the Company.
  • Mr Butschek said that TML would remain cautiously optimistic while estimating that the market would recover by 2HFY21, once the BS-VI transition is behind.
  • TML is seeing marginal improvement in retails. While the market sales volumes were flat YoY in December, TML’s sees improvement in its performance comparing the previous months.
  • For CVs, revenue from which was over four times the revenue of PVs, Mr Butschek said absorption of excess freight-carrying capacity could take up to five years, thereby hampering demand from the truck fleet owners across the country. Introduced in July-August 2018, the new axle load norms raised the permissible gross vehicle weight (GVW) of over 16-ton heavy trucks by about 12-25%, thereby creating excess carrying capacity for fleet operators.
  • A good vehicle scrappage policy could help reviving the demand for CVs in the near term, said Butschek.

Consensus Estimate: (Source: market screener website)

  • The closing price of Tata Motors was ₹ 196/- as on 10-January-20. It traded at 25x/ 12x/ 8x the consensus EPS of ₹ 7.5 / 15.6 / 22.9 for FY20E/ FY21E/ FY22E respectively.
  • Consensus target price is ₹ 187.5/- which implies a PE multiple of 8x on FY22E EPS of ₹ 23/-

Ready for the transition to BS-VI; aim to be a global company at every level – Hero MotoCorp’s Dr Pawan Munjal

Update on the Indian Equity Market:

On Friday, NIFTY50 closed -0.8% lower at 11,921. NIFTY50 gainers include Infratel (+5.3%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (+1.6%) and JSW Steel (+0.7%). NIFTY50 losers include Yes Bank (-10.5%), SBI (-5.3%) and Zee Entertainment (-4.6%). PSU Bank (-4.4), Media (-3.4%), and Auto (-1.7%) were the top losing sectors. There were no sectoral gainers in the Friday trade.

Excerpts from an interview with Dr Pawan Munjal, Chairman, MD & CEO, Hero MotoCorp Ltd. The interview was published in CNBCtv18 dated 05th December 2019

·        They are set for a quick transition to BS-VI. The company has already discontinued over 50 BS-IV products.

·       Hero is leading a charge on the BS-VI front, according to Dr Munjal. The first BS-VI motorcycle introduced in India is from Hero and currently, they are working on all the other range of products. They have already started production of various other models. Over the next 1 or 2 months, Hero will be probably transitioning into BS-VI with the entire range.

·        Dr Munjal said there seems to be a slowdown across the globe, especially in oil markets and thus, many of their global markets are oil-dependent markets. Hero has seen market shrinking, they have seen Columbia & Nigeria market shrinking, and Argentina going through hell and similarly, many other markets facing a lot of headwinds.

·        Hero has gone back and looked at their strategies. They had planned to go to 50 markets. However, right now Hero will focus on the big markets and try and increase their market share in these markets.

Recently Hero introduced the X-Pulse and some of the other new bikes in the 200 CC range. They received an excellent response, from the customers. Hero has more such stuff in the pipeline coming in the premium segment. It is not just the products, it is the brand, the marketing and the 360 around the brand that the Company is doing.

·        Hero is working with the global consultants on the visual identity and the insides of their dealership. Hero will be changing a lot of stuff in their outlets soon.

·        Hero is a global company not just in terms of selling the products into global markets but they have gone into other markets with manufacturing in Columbia and Bangladesh. Thus, the Company is trying to become a global company at every level.

In terms of diversity, there is gender, cultural diversity and there is a diversity of different nations, which are becoming part of Hero.

·        Hero is well on its way to the electrification of its products. A team is working on the engineering and research part of the electric product. Hero will be bringing its electric products but no timeframe promised as of now.

·        Tiger Woods is captaining the US team for the President Cup in Melbourne for Hero MotoCorp. The relationship between Tiger Woods and Hero MotoCorp has been of great benefit. Hero is a huge brand in India. Hero was mostly a domestic brand but when they started going out of India into various other markets whether it was Africa, Latin America, Central America, the brand was almost unknown in other markets, other countries. Hero’s association with Tiger gave them that immediate recognition in these markets.

·        When asked about the biggest lesson learnt by the Company from what has happened over the last year from this slowdown, Dr Pawan Munjal said “Life is not always about going north. There will be challenges in life, there will be difficult times in life, sales will go up sometimes, sales will come down sometimes, the economy will go up and the economy will come down sometimes. So, we need to be prepared to face these challenges. When required, we need to buckle up our shoes and tighten our belts and do whatever best we can do for our consumers and customers to be able to give them the right product and the right quality.”

Consensus Estimate (Source: market screener website)

·        The closing price of Hero MotoCorp Ltd was ₹ 2,362/- as of 06-December-19. It traded at 14x/ 13x/ 12x the consensus EPS estimate for FY20E/ FY21E/ FY22E of ₹ 174/ 177/ 196 respectively.