DOMSNSEQ4 & FY26May 21, 2026

DOMS Industries Limited

8,402words
98turns
13analyst exchanges
2executives
Management on call
Rahul Shah
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER – DOMS INDUSTRIES LIMITED
Aniruddha Joshi
ICICI SECURITIES LIMITED
Key numbers — 40 extracted
21.6%
positive note, delivering steady performance across key metrics. Our revenue for the year grew by 21.6%, surpassing our full year guidance. Some of the key drivers aiding the growth were: First, new
4 million
re that our social media community has scaled significantly. YouTube subscribers have now crossed 4 million and Instagram followers are over 170,000, reinforcing DOMS as one of the most admired brands in s
18.7%
he details of our financial performance - firstly, on Q4 performance. Revenue for Q4 FY26 grew by 18.7% to INR604 crores, highlighting a sustained growth trajectory, primarily led by buoyant demand sce
INR604 crore
s of our financial performance - firstly, on Q4 performance. Revenue for Q4 FY26 grew by 18.7% to INR604 crores, highlighting a sustained growth trajectory, primarily led by buoyant demand scenario in the dom
14.4%
y of lower cost inventory built as a part of our strategic stocking. EBITDA for Q4 FY26 grew by 14.4% to INR100.9 crores with an EBITDA margin at 16.7% in Q4 FY26 as compared to 17.3% in Q4 FY25. The
INR100.9 crore
wer cost inventory built as a part of our strategic stocking. EBITDA for Q4 FY26 grew by 14.4% to INR100.9 crores with an EBITDA margin at 16.7% in Q4 FY26 as compared to 17.3% in Q4 FY25. The moderation in EBI
16.7%
strategic stocking. EBITDA for Q4 FY26 grew by 14.4% to INR100.9 crores with an EBITDA margin at 16.7% in Q4 FY26 as compared to 17.3% in Q4 FY25. The moderation in EBITDA margin is partly due to th
17.3%
Q4 FY26 grew by 14.4% to INR100.9 crores with an EBITDA margin at 16.7% in Q4 FY26 as compared to 17.3% in Q4 FY25. The moderation in EBITDA margin is partly due to the onset of the seasonal slowdown i
13.5%
egment also led to higher advertising and marketing and freight expenses. PAT for Q4 FY26 grew by 13.5% to INR58.2 crores and PAT margin for the same period stood at 9.6% compared to 10% in Q4 FY25.
INR58.2 crore
so led to higher advertising and marketing and freight expenses. PAT for Q4 FY26 grew by 13.5% to INR58.2 crores and PAT margin for the same period stood at 9.6% compared to 10% in Q4 FY25. Coming to our per
9.6%
es. PAT for Q4 FY26 grew by 13.5% to INR58.2 crores and PAT margin for the same period stood at 9.6% compared to 10% in Q4 FY25. Coming to our performance for the financial year. Revenue from oper
10%
FY26 grew by 13.5% to INR58.2 crores and PAT margin for the same period stood at 9.6% compared to 10% in Q4 FY25. Coming to our performance for the financial year. Revenue from operations for finan
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Guidance — 20 items
Aniruddha Joshi
opening
“On behalf of ICICI Securities, we welcome you all to Q4 FY26 and FY26 results conference call of DOMS Industries Limited.”
Rahul Shah
opening
“To begin with, let me take you through the highlights for Q4 and FY26 performance.”
Rahul Shah
opening
“Our revenue for the year grew by 21.6%, surpassing our full year guidance.”
Some of the key drivers aiding the growth were
opening
“Revenue for Q4 FY26 grew by 18.7% to INR604 crores, highlighting a sustained growth trajectory, primarily led by buoyant demand scenario in the domestic market with higher growth coming from office supplies, hobby and craft and back-to-school, aided by increased capacities and new launches.”
Some of the key drivers aiding the growth were
opening
“EBITDA for Q4 FY26 grew by 14.4% to INR100.9 crores with an EBITDA margin at 16.7% in Q4 FY26 as compared to 17.3% in Q4 FY25.”
Some of the key drivers aiding the growth were
opening
“PAT for Q4 FY26 grew by 13.5% to INR58.2 crores and PAT margin for the same period stood at 9.6% compared to 10% in Q4 FY25.”
Some of the key drivers aiding the growth were
opening
“Revenue from operations for financial year 2026 grew by 21.6% to INR2,326.4 crores as compared to FY25, surpassing our guided range led by healthy growth, both from domestic market as well as direct export of DOMS branded range of stationery products.”
Some of the key drivers aiding the growth were
opening
“Consumption margins were broadly consistent for FY26 at 43.6% similar to FY25.”
Some of the key drivers aiding the growth were
opening
“We are pleased to report an EBITDA growth on an absolute basis of 15.5% for the full year to INR402.6 crores with EBITDA margin at the higher end of our guidance.”
Some of the key drivers aiding the growth were
opening
“The EBITDA margin softened to 17.3% as compared to 18.2% in FY25 on account of higher Uniclan contribution in the overall consolidated operations.”
Risks & concerns — 15 flagged
The moderation in EBITDA margin is partly due to the onset of the seasonal slowdown in the baby hygiene segment, which impacted fixed cost absorption.
— Some of the key drivers aiding the growth were
PAT growth was relatively lower than revenue growth primarily due to decline in other income.
— Some of the key drivers aiding the growth were
As a part of our operating framework, we have initiated a set of calibrated measures to minimize the impact of such geopolitical disruptions.
— Some of the key drivers aiding the growth were
In terms of your second question with respect to raw material -- to mitigate the impact of raw material prices, the company has taken certain calibrated steps where we are gradually passing on some of this to our consumers.
— Management
So the near-term environment remains uncertain.
— Management
A significant portion of our input basket is directly linked to crude derivatives, which makes cost trends especially sensitive and highly volatile to the developments in the West Asia conflict.
— Management
While the situation has improved versus the peak uncertainty in the month of April, the environment is still very volatile and far from stable.
— Management
But given the current commodity environment and the volatility arising, we do expect margins in Q1 to remain slightly under pressure versus the corresponding period last year.
— Management
Hence, providing a definitive margin profile for FY27 at this point of time would be a little difficult.
— Management
In the branded product segment like ours, sometimes it becomes very difficult to take any immediate and frequent price changes.
— Management
And what happens is certain inflationary cycles are structural and driven by long-term demand supply imbalances, while others are more event-driven and volatile like what we are seeing right now.
— Rahul Shah
And if there is a gap between the cost inflation and the price increase you have taken and there is margin pressure on account of that, what are the drivers or levers that you have in order to sort of at least partially mitigate that margin pressure?
— Percy Panthaki
Or is it 75% or roughly what amount can you mitigate of the pressure?
— Percy Panthaki
So then you'll, in a way, try to mitigate the impact of coinage issue.
— Management
But at the same time, because of this, there was slight EBITDA margin compression despite stable gross margins.
— Management
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Q&A — 13 exchanges
Q
Congratulations on the continued good set of performance. My first question is the core stationery segment delivered 19% growth this quarter. Could you help us understand whether there was any element of channel stocking ahead of the raw material price increases that led to this kind of growth or it was entirely driven by the underlying consumption demand? And related to that, how was the secondary sales trend versus the primary sales during the quarter? With this also, if you could highlight which are the specific categories or SKUs where we are seeing those kind of price hikes currently? And
Management
Hi Aradhana, thank you. So Aradhana in Q4 FY26, revenues from operations were about INR604 crores total, growing at about 18.7%. Our core stationery business also grew at similar levels. This was not a part of any channel stocking or anything because we closely monitor our primary sales vis-a-vis, the primary and our secondary sales. This was, I think it's the back-to- school season and in the season, there is always an undercurrent for higher demand of products. So that was what we've seen and nothing with respect to any channel stocking for expected price rise or something like that. In term
Q
Just wanted to get a sense in the last such inflation that we saw, which was around the Ukraine war, I think, FY'23. If you can just tell us what was the total price increases over whatever 12-, 15-month period that you had pushed through at that point of time compared to the 4% to 5% that we have taken now?
Management
Hi Percy bhai. I will not have a definite answer to what we did in the past in terms of the exact numbers. But the approach was very similar. It was an approach which was taking calibrated and gradual measures. The first thing that we typically do in such a scenario is try to figure out what scheme, discount or margin rationalization that we can do. Second is then we do selective and gradual MRP increases. These are done only after the scheme rationalization, margin rationalizations are done. So we evaluate and then take selective balance and gradual direct MRP increases. In the branded produc
Q
Sir, my first question is on the RM basket. Can you share what proportion of our RM basket is crude linked? And secondly, out of the INR377 crores of inventory on the balance sheet, can you share how much of it is the RM inventory?
Management
So Jinesh, basically, to answer your first question, we would categorize our raw material basket into 3 segments. One would be about -- which has a direct link to crude and its derivatives, which would be roughly about 40-odd percent, then there is about 30%, which is indirect linkage. When I mean indirect linkage, means probably in manufacturing of that raw material, there are some crude derivatives which are used. And third would be having something like a minimalistic impact. So that's how the raw material basket is structured. When I compare the data from the time this geopolitical tension
Q
You mentioned a lot on Uniclan, that margins have actually deteriorated. One of the reasons is Uniclan's operations. So where are we in terms of margins only on the Uniclan basis?
Management
Where are we on the margin profile? What did you ask? Yes, for the Uniclan. What are the margins for Uniclan? For the quarter? Yes, for the quarter? So in Q4, Uniclan's revenues were about INR55.9 crores and EBITDA margins were close to 6.3%. Which last quarter was more than 7%, 8%, right? Which was around 7.5% -- last quarter means fourth quarter of FY25, right? No. I was thinking about Quarter-on-quarter, third quarter? Yes. Third quarter because this is -- it was much higher, close to 10% because Uniclan is a seasonal business. The third quarter is the strongest for the company and is the h
Q
Congratulations on a good set of numbers. My question is related to capex that you just estimated around INR250 crores, INR275 crores. Can you just help for what product category we are planning our capex and their timelines and when it will be operational?
Management
So this capex is generally going towards increasing our capacities for one, moulding and a lot of other writing instrument products that we planned, plus a large part of it will also go towards the construction of facilities for a lot of land that we acquired in the current financial year. But a lot of our molding capacities are interchangeable. So exactly giving the name of the products would be a little difficult. We've lined up significant capex also for wooden pencils, a segment where we've not done capex in a very long time now. So in this year as well as next year, we'll do some capex th
Q
Yes. Thank you for taking my questions. Just a couple of questions on capex. So we've increased our capex guidance to about INR250 crores to INR275 crores versus, let's say, a previous call of somewhere between INR225 crores to INR250 crores. Just to understand, is it because of rising cost of materials over there? Or are we bringing forward some of our capex? That's my first question.
Management
Hi. So, it accounts for a little bit of increase in cost also. And at the same time also, like I said, there are some multiple new land parcels also with the company acquired, which is strategically located, one near our flagship unit in Umargam, current flagship unit in Umargam and also in our flagship unit in Jammu. So we have a large plant in Jammu, next to that plant, we were able to find a large parcel, which we've acquired. So we'll be doing certain capacity enhancements there as well as in addition to the development that is happening at the 45-acre plant, we've acquired certain land pa
Q
Yes. Thanks for the opportunity. Rahul bhai, first question, what is the extent of Chinese imports in stationery industry? And how does the 20% depreciation of rupee against RMB impact the competition in various areas in which you face Chinese competition? Is there a market share gain opportunity? And like on the similar lines, does this also have some impact on your capex as you are looking to import machinery for your new factories? That's the first one.
Rahul Shah
So yes, there is some amount of imports that come from China, Vietnam, a few other countries also in India. To what extent, what percentage, that's a little difficult to judge. I honestly don't have an answer in terms of percentage. But there are a decent amount of imports that happened. The currency fluctuation probably has made imports slightly expensive. This gives a good opportunity for a branded company like DOMS to -- with their aggressive pricing decision, you can probably reduce or discourage such imports, which can eventually result in market share gains. So we are -- in a way, that s
Q
So, my question is mainly regarding the capacity expansion that is right now happening...
Management
Q
Yes. So, with respect to the capacity expansion, so I just want to know what is the capacity expansion percentage? That is, are we adding another 50% or 100% capacity expansion to the existing facilities? Or is it like SKU-wise? So just want to know an idea on that? And my second question is regarding the distribution channel growth plan. So, what is the company looking at for the current financial year?
Management
Nikil bhai, honestly, we never looked at capacity from a perspective at the product level because we would want to be agile towards the requirements of the market, not commit anything in terms of specific products. But yes, I can give you a certain flavor where the capacity is dedicated for certain products, like for pencils, for the wooden pencils, the capacity right now is around 5.8 million pieces a day, which eventually once the new plant is entirely ready, to increase to about 8 million. Other than that, there are a lot of moulding capacity that we are adding and moulding is in a way inte
Q
Rahul bhai, just clarification. You gave a guidance of 17%, 18%. This doesn't include the plant, the new plant that will get operationalized from H2, right?
Rahul Shah
No, no. So Priyank bhai, this is an annual guidance of close to 17% to 20%, which includes the new capacities coming in from H1 for the new plant. It will be a gradual - end of H1 from the new plant. It will be a gradual ramp-up in capacities that will come in the 45 acres. So that has been considered while guiding for around 17% to 20% growth for FY27. Just reconciling the capex numbers, it's INR450 crores or higher for the Phase 1 of this plant? No, no. So, we've done a capex of close to INR292 crores in this financial year, FY26. And for FY27, the capex planned is around INR250 crores to IN
Q
So actually, most of my questions got answered. So yes, that was related to capacity utilization. Thank you so much.
Management
Q
Thank you for the opportunity again. Just a couple of more questions. One, the capex that we plan to do of around INR500 plus-odd crores for the next 2 years, would we continue with the stance that all of that will be funded through internal accruals or we plan to take some debt for it because we see that this year, we've already reduced our debt quite a bit compared to last year. So how would the capex be funded going ahead?
Management
So it would depend upon, one, the utilization of funds that we generate as free cash flows for the company. If there are free cash flows available, we'll definitely want to utilize them for capital expenditure rather than distributing it as higher than our stated policy of 10% of stand-alone profits to be distributed as dividend. So for that. And there's a lot of headway available to take a little bit of additional debt if required. So it will be a prudent decision-making depending upon the capital allocation and how the company sees the use of funds. Okay. Because the question, the reason I w
Q
Thank you. Thank you once again for joining us. We appreciate your continued support and confidence in our journey. Should you have any further questions, please reach out to our Investor Relations team. Thank you once again, and have a great day ahead.
Management
Speaking time
Management
33
Moderator
15
Sneha
8
Rahul Shah
7
Aradhana Jain
6
Jinesh Joshi
5
Priyank Chheda
5
Mosam Shah
4
Kunal Vora
4
Percy Panthaki
3
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Opening remarks
Aniruddha Joshi
Yes. Thanks, Aaron. On behalf of ICICI Securities, we welcome you all to Q4 FY26 and FY26 results conference call of DOMS Industries Limited. We have with us today senior management represented by Mr. Rahul Shah, Chief Financial Officer. Now I hand over the call to Rahul bhai for his initial comments on the quarterly performance, and then we will open the floor for question-and-answer session. Thanks, and over to you, Rahul bhai.
Rahul Shah
Thank you, Aniruddha bhai. Good afternoon, and a very warm welcome to everyone. Thank you for taking the time to join our Q4 and FY26 earnings call. Joining me on this call is the team from Marathon Capital, our Investor Relations Advisor. I hope that everyone had an opportunity to go through the investor presentation and the results release that has been uploaded on the exchanges and our company's website. To begin with, let me take you through the highlights for Q4 and FY26 performance. I am pleased to share that we have closed the year on a positive note, delivering steady performance across key metrics. Our revenue for the year grew by 21.6%, surpassing our full year guidance.
Some of the key drivers aiding the growth were
First, new product launches across categories with attractive ergonomic and user-friendly designs that resonated strongly with consumers and gained strong traction. These new launches include pencil boxes and well-designed school bags in time for the BTS season, exciting new range of pens and mechanical pencils, stamp pads in the office supply segment and a number of differentiated SKUs in scholastic stationery, scholastic art, hobby and craft, and kits and combo packs. The new range of paper stationery products with fresh designs were also well appreciated by our consumers. Secondly, we witnessed sustained growth across all our product categories. Growth in certain categories, which were aided by capacity additions during the year, outpaced the growth in other categories. Nevertheless, through improvement in our product offering and increase in ASPs, we were happy to state that other categories, where no substantial capacity additions were made during the past year, also delivered pos
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