Earnings Call Transcript

K u antum Papers ltd 17.08.2026 BSE Limited N a t i o n a l S tock Exchange of India Limited Phiroze Jeejeebhoy Towers E x c h a n g e Plaza Dalal Street P lo t N o . C /1, G Block, Mumbai 400 001 B a n d r a - K urla Complex, Bandra (East) Scrip Code: 532937 Mumbai 400 051 Scrip ID: KUANTUM T r a d i ng Symbol: KUANTUM Sub: Transcript of Q1FY27 Earnings Conference Call Ref: Regulation 30 of SEBI (Listing Obligations & Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 Dear Sir/Madam, Pursuant to Regulation 30 & 46 of SEBI (Listing Obligations & Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, please find attached herewith, transcript of the Earnings Conference Call conducted on 14th August, 2026 to discuss Q1FY27 earnings. The above information is also available on the website of the Company i.e. www.kuantumpapers.com. This is for your information and record please. Thanking you, Yours faithfully, For Kuantum Papers Limited (Gurinder Singh Makkar) Company Secretary & Compliance Officer M. No.: F5124 Kuantum Papers limited CIN -L21012PB1997PLC035243 Regd Office & Works Paper Mill Saila Khu rd 144 529 Distt Hoshiarpur Punjab Ph +911884 502737 Corp Office WlA FF Tower A Godrej Eternia Plot 70 lndl Area 1 Chandigarh 160 002 Ph +91172 5172737 €) kuantumpapers.com G> kuantumcorp@kuantumpapers.com G> kuantummill@kuantumpapers.com Kuantum Papers “Kuantum Papers Limited Q1 FY27 Earnings Conference Call” August 14, 2026 '\ Kuantum Papers MANAGEMENT: MR. PAVAN KHAITAN – VICE CHAIRMAN AND MANAGING DIRECTOR – KUANTUM PAPERS LIMITED MR. JAGDEEP HIRA – WHOLE TIME DIRECTOR AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OPERATIONS – KUANTUM PAPERS LIMITED MR. VIKRAM KUMAR KHAITAN – CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER – KUANTUM PAPERS LIMITED MS. PRACHI SHARMA – CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER – KUANTUM PAPERS LIMITED MODERATOR: MR. ANANTH JAYARAM – SKP SECURITIES LIMITED Page 1 of 16 '\ Kuantum Papers Kuantum Papers Limited August 14, 2026 Moderator: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Kuantum Papers Limited Q1 FY27 Earnings Conference Call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode. There will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the management opening remarks. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Ananth Jayaram from SKP Securities Limited. Thank you, and over to you. Ananth Jayaram: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. It's my pleasure to welcome you all on behalf of Kuantum Papers and SKP Securities to this financial results conference call. We have with us Mr. Pavan Khaitan, Vice Chairman and Managing Director; Mr. Jagdeep Hira, Whole-Time Director and CEO Operations; Mr. Vikram Kumar Khaitan, Chief Financial Officer; and Ms. Prachi Sharma, Chief Strategy Officer. We will have the opening remarks from the management, followed by the Q&A session. Thank you, and over to you, Pavan Ji and Vikram Ji. Pavan Khaitan: Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. It's a pleasure to welcome you all to our earnings conference call for the first quarter of financial year 2027. I would like to thank all participants for joining us today. The paper industry saw a healthy demand supported by education, publishing, office consumption and broader economic activity in the first quarter of the financial year 2027. This enabled the company to sell good volumes in the market and also improve the net sales realization of our products. However, the West Asia conflict intensified cost pressures, particularly across fuel, chemicals and other raw materials, while also affecting freight and logistics cost. This created a challenging margin environment for paper manufacturers even as demand conditions improved. Going forward, we believe the key factors for the industry will be the trajectory of raw materials and energy costs, paper realizations and the competitive intensity from imports. While some near-term volatility may persist, we expect demand to remain supportive. We also continue to see opportunities in higher-value paper applications, particularly as customers increasingly look for sustainable alternatives to plastic-based products. This makes cost efficiency, product differentiation and a greater focus on value-added products increasingly important for us. Moving to Kuantum's operational performance, the quarter saw several important initiatives across capacity enhancement, product development and sustainability. We successfully commissioned the DDS Double Displacement Digester System for wood pulping, which will help optimize pulp quality and yield while reducing utility chemical and overall pulp costs. We also commissioned an advanced native starch system on Paper Machine 2 and Paper Machine 3 aimed at improving paper properties and reducing uncooked starch losses. Page 2 of 16 '\ Kuantum Papers Kuantum Papers Limited August 14, 2026 During the quarter, we installed a state-of-the-art Folio Ream Wrapping Machine to automate the wrapping and packaging of high folio sheets. The system has integrated labeling and stacking capabilities, which will enhance packaging efficiency, streamline material handling and improve the overall operational process of our finishing house. Further, Paper Machine 3 has been shut for the time being for a major rebuild, which will lead to enhanced production capabilities and improved quality in the final product. On the product development front, we successfully produced oil and grease resistant paper OGR, for food wrapping and application on our PM2, adding another high-value specialty and sustainable product to our portfolio. On the sustainability front, the company achieved its highest ever quarterly production of 17.28 lakh clonal saplings in our in-house clonal propagation center during the quarter. We also added almost 1,300 acres of social farm forestry, taking the total area under plantation to about 19,650 acres. With that, I would now like to invite our CFO, Vikram Khaitan, to share the financial highlights for the period under review. Vikram Khaitan: Thank you, sir, and good afternoon, everyone. Let me now take you through the financial performance for the first quarter of financial year 2027. Despite the macroeconomic challenges, operational income for the quarter stood at INR304 crores, registering a year-on-year growth of 36%, supported by a 35% year-on-year growth in paper sales volume. The paper sales volume for the quarter stood at 42,922 metric tons. During the quarter, we were able to command higher NSR in both the domestic and export markets, supported by improved demand. However, the improvement in blended NSR by approximately INR3,400 per ton was more than offset by an increase in cost of around INR4,200 per ton on a quarter-to-quarter basis. Driven by higher raw material, chemical and fuel prices amid the ongoing West Asia conflict. As a result, EBITDA stood at INR40 crores, broadly stable year-on-year basis with EBITDA margin at 13.2%. Profit after tax stood at INR6 crores. With this, we can now begin the question- and-answer session. Moderator: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. We take the first question from the line of Jiten Parmar from Aurum Capital. Jiten Parmar: My question is on the guidance for current year. Are we maintaining it? Or what is the new guidance? And what about EBITDA margins? What is that we think we can achieve? Pavan Khaitan: So I think the guidance clearly is positive. We are upbeat that with the commissioning of our last machine on our upgradation program, which is our PM3 that is going to be coming on stream within this month in about a week or so. With that, having completed the entire upgradation program, we are going to be syncing all our operations and verticals in close coordination with each other thereby getting the benefits of overall syncing of our operations. [Showing first 8,000 characters — download PDF for full document]