Premier Energies Banks On Capacity Expansion To Drive Revenue Growth In Next 18 Months

Solar photovoltaic cell and module manufacturer Premier Energies Ltd. expects robust revenues in the next 12 to 18 months on the back of capacity expansion and strong demand from India and the US, the company's managing director Chiranjeev Singh Saluja has said.

Premier Energies Ltd. reported strong financials in the quarter ended September, with net profit rising nearly three-fold year-on-year to Rs 206 crore versus Rs 53 crore in Q2 last fiscal. Revenue from operations increased 120.02% to Rs 1,527 crore in Q2 against Rs 694 crore at the same time last year.

EBITDA jumped 280.2% YoY to Rs 406.95 crore from Rs 107.02 crore in the year-ago period, while margins expanded to 26.19% in Q2 from 15.25% in the corresponding quarter of last fiscal.

Commenting on the results, Saluja said the company expects more growth in the coming years.

“In terms of revenue growth, we will see robust revenue growth as capacities keep getting added, and demand is huge,” he told NDTV Profit in an interview.

The company increased its capacity by around 100% over the last year. Its solar cell lines were commissioned in October last year, the MD said.

“In FY25, we are adding gigawatts of cells; in FY26, we are adding 4 gigawatts of modules and then in FY27, another 4 gigawatts of cells. If you look at the capacity addition, then revenue would grow with capacity coming in,” he said.

“We are at a 2 gigawatt cell capacity today and in about three years, we will get to about 8 gigawatt. We are at a 4 gigawatt module, and will get to an 8 gigawatt module,” the top executive added.

Saluja, however, refrained from pegging an exact revenue number.

He was positive the strong domestic and international demand would shore up revenue.

“If you look at demand, which the government of India has created, and the US demand, which will come up because there is no solar cell manufacturing in the US, we are quite positive about this,” Saluja said.

The Premier Energies MD further noted that EBITDA margins would remain in a similar range in the mid-term.

“It (current EBITDA margins) is going to be a new normal for at least about two to three years and then it will soften,” he said.

Premier Energies is looking at raising debts to expand its capacity,.

“We already have a debt sanction from IREDA, which was given in our RHP for our 4GW facility. That's about a Rs 2,000-crore debt. This would be raised between FY25 to FY27 as the (solar) lines come up,” Saluja noted.