SUGS LLOYD Gross Debt More Than Doubles to Rs 163.1 Crore

SUGS LLOYD’s gross debt more than doubled in H1 FY27, reaching Rs 163.1 crore on 30 September 2026 from Rs 68.9 crore on 31 March 2026. The Rs 94.1 crore increase coincided with Rs 42.2 crore of additional bank-guarantee margin money, Rs 37.1 crore of new capital work-in-progress and higher working-capital balances.

How much did SUGS LLOYD’s gross debt increase in H1 FY27?

SUGS LLOYD’s gross debt increased by Rs 94.1 crore during H1 FY27, from Rs 68.9 crore at 31 March 2026 to Rs 163.1 crore at 30 September 2026. Debt had already risen to Rs 91 crore by 30 June 2026, meaning Rs 72.1 crore of the six-month increase was added during the September quarter.

The movement was predominantly in short-term funding. Short-term borrowings rose from Rs 68.73 crore at 31 March to Rs 154.43 crore at 30 September, while long-term borrowings increased from Rs 21 lakh to Rs 8.64 crore. Together, these balance-sheet lines total Rs 163.07 crore at the September date, consistent with the presentation’s rounded gross-debt figure of Rs 163.1 crore.

SUGS LLOYD reported shareholders’ funds of Rs 157.22 crore at 30 September, up from Rs 137.21 crore at 31 March. Borrowings therefore grew faster than equity in H1: gross debt added Rs 94.1 crore, compared with a Rs 20.01 crore increase in shareholders’ funds.

What balance-sheet uses accompanied SUGS LLOYD’s borrowing increase?

The largest identified use was bank-guarantee margin money, which rose by Rs 42.19 crore to Rs 92.47 crore at 30 September from Rs 50.28 crore at 31 March. SUGS LLOYD classifies this balance as other non-current assets labelled BG margin, where BG means bank guarantee.

Capital work-in-progress was another significant new balance, reaching Rs 37.05 crore at 30 September from nil at the March year-end. The presentation identifies the Rs 37.1 crore H1 movement as new capital work-in-progress, while fixed assets and investments changed only from Rs 1.71 crore to Rs 1.87 crore.

Working-capital balances also expanded as revenue increased. Trade receivables rose Rs 31.56 crore to Rs 190.81 crore, inventories rose Rs 14.64 crore to Rs 24.75 crore, and loans, advances and other assets rose Rs 34.77 crore to Rs 82.47 crore. In the same period, trade payables increased by Rs 5.28 crore to Rs 57.96 crore and other current liabilities by Rs 28.99 crore to Rs 35.10 crore.

Cash and bank balances remained comparatively small despite the increase in funding, rising from Rs 57 lakh at 31 March to Rs 1.61 crore at 30 September. SUGS LLOYD defines net debt as borrowings less cash, and reported annualised net debt to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of 2.6x at the H1 date, versus 1.6x for FY26.

How close is SUGS LLOYD to its debt-to-equity ceiling?

SUGS LLOYD reported debt-to-equity of 1.04x at 30 September 2026, compared with 0.50x at 31 March 2026 and 0.69x at 30 September 2025. On its Q1 FY27 call on 31 July 2026, management stated a debt-to-equity ceiling of 1.1x to 1.2x.

At 1.04x, the reported ratio was 0.06x below the lower end of management’s stated 1.1x to 1.2x ceiling range. The movement reflects the faster increase in gross debt relative to shareholders’ funds, which stood at Rs 157.22 crore at the end of H1 FY27.

Management also said on the Q1 FY27 call that it did not plan an equity raise in FY27 or FY28. The funding levers named on that call were surety bonds in place of bank guarantees, TeRDS and purchase-bill discounting; the presentation does not quantify expected use of any of these mechanisms.

Did SUGS LLOYD’s finance costs rise with borrowings?

SUGS LLOYD’s H1 FY27 finance cost was 2.8% of revenue, down from 3.2% in H1 FY26, even as gross debt reached Rs 163.1 crore at 30 September. Interest cover, calculated as earnings before interest and tax divided by finance cost, improved to 5.2x from 4.8x in H1 FY26.

For the September quarter alone, finance cost rose 42.1% year on year to Rs 3.44 crore from Rs 2.42 crore, while revenue grew 112.1% to Rs 134.91 crore. Consequently, quarterly finance cost as a share of revenue fell to 2.5% from 3.8% in Q2 FY26.

H1 FY27 EBITDA increased 64.2% to Rs 31 crore from Rs 18.9 crore a year earlier, while revenue increased 73.4% to Rs 213.3 crore. The presentation reports EBITDA margin of 14.5%, down 81 basis points from 15.3%, and attributes the margin change to the material mix.

How did operating growth coincide with SUGS LLOYD’s working-capital build?

SUGS LLOYD recorded H1 FY27 revenue of Rs 213.3 crore, equivalent to 71% of its FY26 full-year revenue of Rs 300.7 crore. The expansion was concentrated in the September quarter, when revenue reached Rs 134.91 crore, compared with Rs 78.40 crore in Q1 FY27.

Management said June billing on the Patna project, previously held back by start-up and supplier delays, came through in Q2 FY27. In that quarter, transmission and distribution (T&D) and smart grid represented 92% of revenue, compared with a 46% share in FY26, while solar engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) accounted for the remaining 8%.

The order book increased to Rs 1,067.4 crore excluding goods and services tax at 30 September 2026, from Rs 807 crore at 30 June. SUGS LLOYD won Rs 395.3 crore of orders in Q2 and executed Rs 134.9 crore of revenue, producing a 2.9x quarterly book-to-bill ratio.

The link between order execution and funding needs is visible in the simultaneous increases in receivables, inventory, BG margin and short-term borrowings, although the presentation does not assign each Rs 163.1 crore of gross debt to individual projects. Its reported asset base rose to Rs 431.03 crore at 30 September from Rs 269.63 crore at 31 March.

Conclusion

SUGS LLOYD paired a 73.4% H1 revenue increase with a Rs 94.1 crore rise in gross debt, taking gross borrowings to Rs 163.1 crore. The balance-sheet expansion included Rs 42.2 crore of additional BG margin money, Rs 37.1 crore of new capital work-in-progress and higher receivables, inventories and advances, while cash remained Rs 1.61 crore.

The next measure to watch is debt-to-equity against management’s stated 1.1x to 1.2x ceiling, after the ratio reached 1.04x at 30 September. Management has said it plans no equity raise in FY27 or FY28 and identified surety bonds, TeRDS and purchase-bill discounting as funding levers, while the Rs 1,067.4 crore order book remains to be executed.