Sical Logistics Ltd H1FY26 – From Insolvency to Irony: How a 70-Year-Old Logistics Dinosaur Is Hauling Itself Out of the Grave
1. At a Glance
Ah, Sical Logistics — the 1955-born logistics granddaddy that once shipped India’s cargo dreams and then drove straight into insolvency. After being tossed into Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) by the NCLT, Chennai in FY21, Sical is now crawling back under new management, fresh term loans, and a recently commissioned Gati Shakti Cargo Terminal. Market cap? ₹594 crore. Share price? ₹91. And promoters holding? A jaw-dropping 89.9%, which means the public is basically holding crumbs of the samosa.
With ₹318 crore in sales (FY25 TTM), operating profit margins rising to 17.9%, and PAT turning almost positive at ₹-1.59 crore, the story has gone from “Rest in Peace Logistics” to “Restructured in Progress Logistics.”
However, the book value is a tragic ₹0.39 per share, meaning the stock trades at an unbelievable 234x book — essentially, you’re buying vibes, not valuation. Debt is ₹607 crore, ROE is -396%, and the company recently raised a ₹38 crore HDFC term loan. Yet, it somehow posted an 83.6% jump in quarterly sales and 175% rise in profit in the latest quarter.
So, yes — Sical is that friend who went bankrupt, sold his land for cash, and came back to flex a BMW with a bank loan.
2. Introduction
Once upon a time, in the bustling Indian logistics sector, there was a veteran named Sical Logistics Ltd, a proud Coffee Day Group company. Founded in 1955, it was India’s OG in integrated logistics, handling coal, iron ore, limestone, containers, and even over-dimensional cargo before the term “logistics tech” existed.
Then came the storm — a massive debt pile, the Coffee Day crisis, and ultimately insolvency. For a while, the company’s financial statements looked like a horror story written by CAs with emotional trauma: negative reserves, losses, pledges, and tax percentages that defied math.
But here’s the plot twist — post-resolution in January 2023, a new board entered, led by Pristine Malwa Logistics Park Pvt Ltd, and suddenly Sical started moving again. Q2FY26 results showed revenue of ₹89.8 crore and a PAT of ₹11.7 crore, largely boosted by a ₹28.54 crore land sale gain. Yes, land — not logistics — saved the quarter.
Still, when a company comes back from CIRP and starts commissioning new cargo terminals under the Gati Shakti plan, you can’t ignore it. This is no longer a dead stock — it’s a zombie with Wi-Fi.
3. Business Model – WTF Do They Even Do?
Let’s decode this beast.
Sical Logistics is not your average “truck and warehouse” player. It’s a multi-vertical logistics conglomerate, dealing in:
Port Logistics – handling bulk and break-bulk cargo at Indian ports.
Container Freight Stations (CFS) – managing inbound and outbound containers.
Road & Rail Transport – multimodal movement across India.
Mining Services – overburden removal for coal mines like Amlori OCP (NCL).
Offshore Support Services – it owns and operates a cutter suction dredger for oil and gas support.
Shipping & Coastal Logistics – yes, the company actually owns vessels.
Essentially, if it moves — on land, water, or through a bureaucratic bottleneck — Sical can move it.
Pre-CIRP, the company was juggling too many businesses and dropping most of them. Post-CIRP, it’s narrowed down to mining and dredging — the “cash cows” of its portfolio. It now claims to handle 25+ million tons of bulk and 0.5 million TEUs of container cargo annually.
Question: can a company this old really compete with flashy tech-driven logistics startups like Delhivery or TVS Supply Chain? Let’s find out.
4. Financials Overview
Quarterly Results (Consolidated Figures in ₹ Crore)
Metric
Q2FY26 (Sep 2025)
Q2FY25 (Sep 2024)
Q1FY26 (Jun 2025)
YoY %
QoQ %
Revenue
89.8
49.0
98.0
83.6%
-8.4%
EBITDA
18.0
4.0
23.0
350%
-21.7%
PAT
11.7
-6.0
-3.0
295%
490%
EPS (₹)
1.79
-1.01
-0.67
277%
367%
Commentary: Ladies and gentlemen, this is what a resurrection looks like. From posting back-to-back losses, Sical suddenly pulled off a ₹11.7 crore profit. But before you shout “turnaround,” remember — ₹28.54 crore of that was from selling land.
