STL a leading Optical and Digital solutions company, today announced its financial results for the year ended 31st March 2024. STL reported revenues of INR 5,478 Cr and a robust open order book of INR 10,290 Cr.
Despite difficult market dynamics and low optical demand in FY24, STL delivered strongly on its strategic priorities. The company’s recent INR 1,000 Cr fundraise with top global investors via a Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) shows strong investor confidence in STL’s growth trajectory. STL utilised this lean industry period to strengthen its capability across the board, including its cost structure, balance sheet, global operations, and product portfolio. The company also completed its capex investment cycle and started operations in its Palmetto Plant in South Carolina, US. FY24 also saw the company taking significant strides toward cash generation and debt reduction. With a ~3x QoQ increase in Q4 order volumes, STL is poised to capitalise on the reviving market demand.
Stepping into FY25, the company leadership expressed confidence and excitement about its future prospects. “FY24 had its challenges, but we were resilient in actioning our priorities on Customer, Cost, and Cash. We see the market turning gradually, and early signs of this are visible in our customer discussions and order volumes,” remarked Ankit Agarwal, Managing Director, STL. “AI is bringing renewed excitement into the fibre space. We see 5G, fibre to the home, and data centre buildouts as the holy trinity of fiberisation for the years to come,” he added.
Some key highlights for FY24:
Optical Networking Business – STL optimised cost structures to become more operationally efficient, co-developed integrated cable and connectivity solutions with key global customers and accelerated focus on the Optical Connectivity segment, securing its first set of large order wins in North America. STL also unveiled Rapid series of Optical products, compliant with the ‘Build America, Buy America’ (BABA) regulations and strengthened its local supply chain after its flagship facility launch in South Carolina, US.
- Product innovation – STL pushed the pedal on product innovation towards minification of optical fibres with back-to-back development of 180-micron and 160-micron optical fibres. The company also participated in the Advanced Optical Communications (AOC) testbed with IIT Madras and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Govt of India, to deploy its India-first multicore fibre in a live network. These innovations led STL to end the year with a patent count of 686.
- Sustainability – STL achieved great milestones towards its goal of Net-Zero by 2030, launching the world’s first third-party accredited Eco-labelled range of Optical products and collaborated with Hygenco for supplying Green Hydrogen.
- Deep engagements with customers – STL added diversified customers across geographies, forming deep partnerships with service providers like Windstream, Truvista, Lumos and Archtop in the US, Vocus in Australia, Swaminarayan BAPS temple in MEA and leading service providers in India.
Global Services Business – STL delivered on its intent to shift its project mix towards higher margin projects. This is visible in a ~2x increase in the business’s annual EBITDA margin. Some notable order wins include Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) for ~250 health facilities under BMC, Mumbai and Smart Fibre Deployment services for a leading Alt-Net in the UK.
STL Digital – Scaled business rapidly to achieve a 4.25x YoY revenue growth with a robust order book of INR 660 Cr. The company also formed strategic partnerships with SAP and Google and acquired 25 global customers across India and the US.
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