Manufactures, designs, builds and services equipment and systems for the electricity network: power and distribution transformers, primary and secondary medium-voltage switchgear, protection and differential relays, plus a software layer — distribution-management systems for self-healing smart grids, e-House and smart-city applications. The pure-play listed exposure to India's transmission-and-distribution capex inside the Schneider Electric group.
| Year | Sales | Op. profit | OPM % | Other inc. | PBT | PAT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY21 | 1,297 | 64 | 5 | 6 | -1 | -1 |
| FY22 | 1,530 | 86 | 6 | 7 | 28 | 28 |
| FY23 | 1,777 | 168 | 9 | 27 | 124 | 124 |
| FY24 | 2,207 | 296 | 13 | 5 | 210 | 172 |
| FY25 | 2,637 | 383 | 15 | 42 | 350 | 268 |
| FY26 | 2,891 | 371 | 13 | 4 | 292 | 213 |
A genuine operating turnaround — and unlike SETL, it passes the other-income test: ₹4 cr of other income against ₹292 cr of FY26 PBT. The profit is manufacturing profit. The decade before matters, though: FY15 through FY21 were seven consecutive loss years (worst −₹176 cr in FY17), so the franchise has cycled hard before. And FY26 is the recovery's first down-year: PAT fell from ₹268 cr to ₹213 cr (−20%) as OPM slipped 15% → 13%.
Reserves were negative from FY18 to FY21 — the accumulated-loss legacy — and have since been repaired to ₹727 cr, entirely by retained earnings (equity capital unchanged at ₹48 cr; no dividend has ever been paid). Borrowings ₹548 cr against ₹775 cr net worth puts D/E at 0.71 — moderate, and flat-to-down over three years. CWIP has stepped up ₹32 → ₹86 → ₹102 cr: capacity is being built into the cycle. Working capital is disciplined: 103 debtor days (utility clients pay slowly) but 126 payable days nets the cash-conversion cycle to 61 days.
| Year | CFO | CFI | CFF | FCF |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY22 | 120 | -25 | -82 | 95 |
| FY23 | 88 | -41 | -64 | 50 |
| FY24 | 189 | -57 | -105 | 132 |
| FY25 | 308 | -66 | -30 | 245 |
| FY26 | 224 | -93 | -35 | 120 |
The turnaround is cash-backed: five straight years of positive CFO and positive FCF, with three-year CFO (₹721 cr) ahead of three-year PAT (₹653 cr). Financing flows are outflows — debt being serviced, not raised. This is the opposite of a paper recovery.
ROCE 29.6%, ROE 35.6%. One honest caveat on the headline "3-year ROE 58.9%": that average is computed off an equity base that was barely positive after the loss decade, so it flatters the franchise — the current-year 35.6% on a repaired ₹775 cr net worth is the truer number. It is still an excellent number.
Screener did not return a shareholding table for this listing this run — promoter %, trend and pledge are unverified. For an MNC subsidiary the promoter block is structurally large, but the current figure and any recent change must be checked against the exchange filing before it can inform a decision.
145× trailing earnings, 41.8× book — the richest multiple on this week's board, awarded in a year when PAT fell 20%. ₹32,341 cr of market value against ₹213 cr of profit and ₹120 cr of FCF means the price already assumes the FY26 margin dip is a pause and the grid-capex cycle runs for years. Nothing about the multiple is supported by the current earnings level; it is supported entirely by the expected trajectory.
| Quarter | Sales | Op. profit | OPM % | Other inc. | PAT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun-24 | 593 | 82 | 14 | 3 | 48 |
| Sep-24 | 600 | 74 | 12 | 9 | 54 |
| Dec-24 | 857 | 140 | 16 | 25 | 111 |
| Mar-25 | 587 | 87 | 15 | 6 | 55 |
| Jun-25 | 622 | 69 | 11 | 4 | 41 |
| Sep-25 | 650 | 84 | 13 | 4 | 52 |
| Dec-25 | 1,029 | 173 | 17 | -20 | 97 |
| Mar-26 | 590 | 45 | 8 | 15 | 22 |
Strong December seasonality — the Dec quarter is the year's largest three years running (₹744 → ₹857 → ₹1,029 cr). The warning is March: Mar-26 delivered flat sales year-on-year (₹590 vs ₹587 cr), OPM of just 8%, a 38% tax rate and PAT of ₹22 cr against ₹55 cr a year earlier — and Mar-24 was similarly mangled (91% tax, ₹3 cr PAT). Two of the last three March quarters have been the year's weakest by far. At 145×, the market is looking straight past the most recent quarter on the tape.
What you must believe to own it: that India's transmission-and-distribution capex cycle runs for years, that FY26's margin dip (15% → 13%, with Mar-26 at 8%) is a pause rather than the cycle's peak, and that a cash-backed operator earning ~30% ROCE deserves to hold a triple-digit multiple while it grows into it. The turnaround itself is not in question — five years of positive FCF and near-zero other income make it the cleanest P&L in this week's cohort. What breaks the thesis: the price, not the business. At 145× a declining earnings line, one more soft quarter compresses both the E and the multiple simultaneously; the seven-loss-year history shows what this franchise looks like when the cycle turns. The promoter register and the circuit band are both unverified this run — two checks before any order, not after.