📅 May 19, 2025 | ✍️ By Prashant Marathe | EduInvesting.in
🧾 At a Glance
JK Paper has released its audited results for FY25 and the story isn’t hard to read — unless you’re allergic to falling profits.
- FY25 Net Profit: ₹782 Cr (down 35% from ₹1,209 Cr in FY24)
- FY25 Revenue from Operations: ₹5,732 Cr (flat vs last year)
- Q4 FY25 Profit: ₹124 Cr (vs ₹260 Cr in Q4 FY24 – down 52%)
- EPS for FY25: ₹44.57 (vs ₹68.91 last year)
- Margins took a mild hit, not a free fall
So… Is the paper industry bleeding ink? Or is this just a seasonal smudge? Let’s break it down — EduInvesting style.
🏭 About JK Paper Ltd
For the uninitiated: JK Paper is one of India’s largest paper manufacturers, part of the JK Organisation, and a household name in notebooks, office stationery, and printing solutions.
- Think JK Copier, JK Cedar, and JK Maxima — the white sheets your printer loves and your wallet hates.
- The company operates 3 integrated pulp and paper mills across Gujarat, Odisha, and Telangana.
- It’s not just A4 sheets — JK also makes packaging board, coated paper, and specialty paper for food and pharma.
But despite running a literal “money-printing” business (almost), FY25 was far from a fairy tale.
👨💼 Key Managerial Personnel (KMP)
- Chairman & Managing Director: Harsh Pati Singhania
— Known for his long-term vision and focus on sustainability. - CFO: Arvind Mathur
— The man behind the numbers. Hope he’s got thicker skin this quarter. - Company Secretary: Alka Bhatia
— Probably the only person smiling because the compliance section was spotless.
💰 Financials: FY25 vs FY24 (Standalone)
Let’s get to the heart of it — the numbers that make or break investors’ hearts.
📊 Annual Snapshot (₹ in Crores)
Metric | FY25 | FY24 | Change |
---|---|---|---|
Revenue from Operations | ₹5,731.64 | ₹5,764.34 | -0.6% |
Total Income | ₹5,898.18 | ₹5,942.55 | -0.7% |
EBITDA | ₹1,315.45 | ₹1,950+ | ~-32% est. |
Net Profit (PAT) | ₹782.19 | ₹1,208.78 | -35.3% |
Basic EPS | ₹44.57 | ₹68.91 | -35.3% |
✅ Revenue held steady, but margins clearly squeezed.
❌ Profit fell ₹427 Cr, not small change for a paper mill.
📉 Q4 FY25 Breakdown: January – March 2025
Metric | Q4 FY25 | Q4 FY24 | % Change |
---|---|---|---|
Revenue from Operations | ₹1,438.97 Cr | ₹1,511.64 Cr | -4.8% |
Net Profit | ₹124.45 Cr | ₹260.42 Cr | -52.2% |
EPS | ₹7.09 | ₹14.83 | -52.2% |
That’s not just a bad quarter — that’s a “printer ran out of toner” quarter. Demand slowed, input costs played spoilsport, and power/fuel costs didn’t help.
🧠 Forward-Looking Fair Value (FV) Estimate
Let’s play analyst.
- Paper industry is cyclical but essential.
- PE multiples for mid-cap manufacturing like JK Paper usually trade between 6x to 10x earnings.
- Assuming normalized FY26 EPS rebounds to ₹55–₹60, a fair value range looks like:
Forward FV Estimate = ₹55 × 8 = ₹440 (base case)
So current price (₹370–₹390 range) leaves some upside, assuming no further earnings drop.
🔮 Estimated Growth & Industry Outlook
The paper sector is in a weird spot:
📈 Positives:
- Bans on single-use plastics are boosting paper packaging demand.
- Education and office segment recovering post-pandemic.
- JK Paper has invested heavily in capacity expansion and green energy.
📉 Negatives:
- Raw material prices (wood pulp, coal) volatile.
- Imports from China, Indonesia, and ASEAN pose pricing pressure.
- Paper usage is still declining in core office printing due to digitization.
In short: steady growth, but expect margin swings.
🧠 EduInvesting Take
Let’s be honest — JK Paper didn’t have a great FY25, and Q4 was more of a paper cut than a punch. But it’s not all gloom:
- The business model is still strong.
- Cash flows are stable.
- It’s a dividend-paying, debt-managed manufacturer — rare combo.
Think of JK Paper like an old-school diary in a digital world — not sexy, not fast-growing, but reliable if margins hold.
If the profit slide stabilizes and global pulp prices normalize, JK Paper could bounce.
But investors expecting ₹1,000 Cr+ profit years on repeat may need to turn the page.
🚩 Risks & Red Flags
- Commodity Input Risk: Pulp, chemicals, coal – they don’t have fixed prices, and that hurts.
- China Imports: Cheaper paper dumping can eat into margins.
- Demand Shifts: Digitization isn’t stopping anytime soon.
- Flat Revenue: Even in a year with capacity, growth was… paper thin.
📝 Final Verdict: Should You Hold, Fold, or Print?
If you’re in it for the long haul and love steady dividend-paying stocks with occasional upswing, JK Paper still has a case.
But if you’re expecting a multi-bagger from here? You might be living in La La Land (or your school library).
EduInvesting Rating: 🟨 Neutral
“Margins may be thin, but the pages aren’t torn.”
📜 Published: May 19, 2025 | Author: Prashant Marathe
📊 Category: Nifty 500, Manufacturing, Results Season
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