Dear Friends,

As an investor, we need to analyse each and everything related to the company that we are investing in.

One of the most important aspects is concall ( Conference Call). This is where many industrial experts are discussing about the company's earnings and other aspects of the company once the results are out. These Conference calls don't just give us numbers; they also reveal the management's culture.

Many investors review conference call transcripts primarily to track figures like:

Revenue Guidance
EBITDA Margin
Capex
Volume Growth

However, these crucial insights are sometimes hidden within casual exchanges.

Recently, while I was reviewing past conference calls for Kajaria Ceramics, an interesting conversation just caught my attention trigger. 

An analyst asked: " The Employee costs haven't risen and other expenses remain under control. What have you taken to cut down the costs from the management side?"

The management replied: "We have let go of some staff and are keeping the expenses in check. And none of the promoters are drawing a salary this year."

Hearing this, another analyst asked:

"Why are not you taking a salary? When will you resume doing so?"

The promoters' response which really impressed me:  "We will not draw a salary until our company achieves an EBITDA run rate of ₹1,000 crore."

They added a telling phrase:
"Charity begins at home."

In other words...

If we expect everyone in the company to practice cost control, that discipline must start with us.
The key takeaway here isn't just that they gave up ₹17 crore in salary.
It is the mindset behind it that matters.
Today, Kajaria's quarterly EBITDA has already reached an annualized run rate of more than ₹1,000 crore.
The company is inching closer to the milestone they publicly committed to.

A conference call is not merely a Q&A session.

It reveals the following:

1. How the management thinks on various aspects. 
2. How they respond to tough questions that throw out on them from various external sources.
3. Whether there is alignment lies between their words and their actions.

4. Do they really engage with their stakeholders?

That is the primary key.

Financial statements reveal what happened in the past.

In general, these conference calls truly reveal the true nature of the people running the company.

Disclaimer: No recommendations to buy or sell.