🔍 At a Glance
Flair Writing is a Top 3 player in India’s writing instrument market and the #1 pen exporter from India. But even after crossing ₹1,000 Cr in revenue, margins are shrinking, working capital is bloated, and Doms is outshining it in every possible way. So is Flair the next FMCG breakout… or just a commoditized pen pusher stuck in cursive?
🧱 Business Model – WTF Do They Even Do?
- 🖊️ Ball pens, gel pens, markers, highlighters, fountain pens – you name it.
- 📦 Also manufactures refills, stationery, and metal-body gift pens
- 🌍 Exports to 115 countries
- 🧪 In-house R&D and production (unlike trading-focused rivals)
Basically, if you’ve ever bought a ₹5 pen that magically vanished in 48 hours — there’s a 1 in 3 chance it came from Flair.
📊 Financials Snapshot
| Metric | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue (₹ Cr) | 554 | 903 | 919 | 949 |
| Net Profit (₹ Cr) | 54 | 112 | 118 | 112 |
| ROCE (%) | 20% | 34% | 23% | 16% |
| OPM (%) | 17% | 19% | 19% | 16% |
🧠 Good growth, but margin compression is real – FY25 flat YoY despite ₹131 Cr capex. Also, profits peaked in FY24.
💰 Valuation – Doms vs Flair vs Linc 🥊
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Market Cap | ₹2,873 Cr |
| EPS (FY25) | ₹10.64 |
| P/E | ~25.6x |
| Book Value | ₹95 |
| P/B | 2.87x |
💥 Compare this with:
- Doms: 74x PE, 22% ROE, ₹15,000 Cr market cap
- Linc: 23x PE, 17.7% ROE, ₹887 Cr market cap
Flair sits awkwardly in between — a bit cheaper than Doms, a bit bloated vs Linc.
🔥 What’s Cooking – News & Triggers
- ⚖️ CGST notice for ₹27.5 lakh ITC claim (FY19) – not material
- 📈 FY25 revenue hits ₹1,080 Cr (10.3% growth) – decent
- 🏭 ₹131 Cr capex announced – for capacity and automation
- 💸 Announced ₹1 dividend/share – token, but symbolic!
So… they finally broke the zero-dividend curse. Still no FMCG-style reward policy.
🧾 Balance Sheet – How Many Pens = ₹1,000 Cr?
| Metric | FY25 |
|---|---|
| Equity | ₹53 Cr |
| Reserves | ₹949 Cr |
| Debt | ₹39 Cr (reduced from ₹169 Cr in FY18) |
| Fixed Assets | ₹294 Cr |
| Total Assets | ₹1,156 Cr |
✅ Debt almost gone
🧱 Strong reserves
🚧 Capex heavy – but manageable
🔄 Still asset-light vs topline scale
💸 Cash Flow – Sab Number Game Hai
| FY | CFO (₹ Cr) |
|---|---|
| FY24 | ₹24 Cr |
| FY25 | ₹58 Cr |
⚠️ Capex outflow in FY24 was ₹246 Cr
✅ FCF positive in FY25, but still recovering
📉 Inventory up, CCC worsening
🧮 Key Ratios – Sexy or Stressy?
| Metric | FY25 |
|---|---|
| ROCE | 15.6% |
| ROE | 11.9% |
| Working Capital Days | 152 |
| Debtor Days | 83 |
| Inventory Days | 165 |
| CCC | 214 Days (bloated) |
🔥 High WC means Flair is funding retailers’ shelves – like an unsecured NBFC disguised as a pen company.
🧾 P&L Breakdown (FY25)
- Revenue: ₹949 Cr
- Operating Profit: ₹152 Cr
- Net Profit: ₹112 Cr
- OPM: 16% (down from 19%)
- EPS: ₹10.64
- Dividend: ₹1/share (first ever)
🥊 Peer Comparison
| Company | Revenue (₹ Cr) | PAT (₹ Cr) | ROCE | PE | OPM | ROE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flair | 949 | 112 | 15.6% | 25.6x | 16% | 11.9% |
| Doms | 1,912 | 202 | 26.1% | 74x | 18.2% | 22.3% |
| Linc | 531 | 38.6 | 22.5% | 23x | 11.9% | 17.7% |
💡 Flair is efficient, but not dominant. Doms is premiumized, Linc is frugal and profitable. Flair is… in transition.
🗃️ Shareholding
- Promoters: 78.59%
- FIIs: 0.06% (basically out)
- DIIs: 9.55%
- Public: 11.8%
🚫 Low FII visibility
✅ Strong promoter holding
🟡 DII support dipping slightly
🧠 EduInvesting Verdict™
“Flair is writing its growth story… but Doms already copyrighted the bestseller.”
✅ Clean growth
✅ Global presence
✅ Export leadership
✅ Low debt
❌ Shrinking margins
❌ Bloated working capital
❌ Late dividend policy
❌ No premiumization yet
🧮 Fair Value Estimate
Let’s take FY25 EPS of ₹10.64 and assign:
- 22x conservative multiple → ₹234
- 28x optimistic multiple (post capex gains) → ₹298
📍 Fair Value Range = ₹234 – ₹298
📉 CMP ₹273 → Fair, not cheap.
🏷️ Tags:
Flair Writing, Doms vs Flair vs Linc, stationery stocks India, smallcap FMCG, writing instrument companies, Flair pen IPO analysis, EduInvesting deep dive
✍️ Written by Prashant | 📅 July 3, 2025
