1. At a Glance – Blink and You’ll Miss the Cash Flow
Creative Newtech Ltd is that stock which looks boring on the surface but keeps slipping banana peels under your feet once you open the financials. Market cap of ₹1,065 crore, stock price around ₹709, P/E of 16, ROCE 21%, ROE 18%, and revenue that just refuses to sit quietly.
Q3 FY26 numbers came in hot: ₹914 crore quarterly revenue, up 38.7% YoY, with PAT of ₹23.37 crore, up 36.9% YoY. Sounds solid, right? Then you notice OPM is just 3%. This is not a luxury brand; this is a logistics-heavy, working-capital-hungry distribution beast pretending to be asset-light.
Debt stands at ₹126 crore, debt-to-equity 0.39, which is reasonable for a distributor. Promoters hold 56.6%, no pledging, but promoter holding has quietly slipped over three years. The stock is down 23.5% over 1 year, despite sales growing at 41% CAGR (TTM).
So what’s going on? Is the market blind, or is Creative Newtech playing a dangerous game of scale-without-margin? Let’s open the box 📦.
2. Introduction – Distributor With Delusions of Grandeur?
Creative Newtech is not your average “laptop-becho-bhaiya” distributor. Incorporated in 1992, this company has evolved into a brand licensing + contract manufacturing + global distribution platform.
They touch IT products, gaming gear, lifestyle electronics, security products, cameras, air purifiers, and even medical equipment. If it plugs into a wall or WiFi, Creative probably distributes it somewhere.
The company operates across 31+ branches, 10,000+ channel partners, handles 50,000+ metric tons of monthly import/export, and sells 5,000+ SKUs across 25+ brands. This is less a company, more a supply-chain octopus 🐙.
But here’s the twist: 60% of FY24 revenue came from a single overseas customer. One customer sneezes, Creative catches pneumonia. That concentration risk is not a footnote—it’s the headline.
Creative’s strategy is simple: don’t manufacture much, don’t build factories, just license
brands, distribute aggressively, scale fast, and pray margins don’t collapse. Sometimes it works beautifully. Sometimes… Redington laughs quietly from the corner.
3. Business Model – WTF Do They Even Do?
Imagine Amazon, but without the website, without Prime, and with thinner margins. That’s Creative Newtech.
Their business has three pillars:
1. Brand Licensing
Creative is the exclusive Honeywell licensee across 38 countries in South & Southeast Asia, Middle East, and Africa. They don’t just distribute Honeywell products; they manufacture and sell under license. That’s powerful—if executed well.
2. Distribution (B2B + Retail)
They distribute brands like Samsung, Fujifilm, Cooler Master, MSI, CyberPower PC, Panasonic Audio, Philips Digital Signage, and more. This is high-volume, low-margin grunt work. Scale matters more than elegance here.
3. Asset-Light Expansion
No big capex. No factories obsession. Growth comes from adding brands, entering geographies, and signing new licensing deals. This keeps ROCE high but makes cash flows… moody.
This is a working capital business dressed up as a tech story. If receivables stretch or inventory piles up, profits can vanish faster than Insta360 stock in festive season.
4. Financials Overview – Growth Ka Rocket, Margin Ka Cycle
Quarterly Comparison Table (₹ crore)
| Metric | Latest Qtr (Q3 FY26) | YoY Qtr (Q3 FY25) | Prev Qtr (Q2 FY26) | YoY % | QoQ % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 914 | 659 | 656 | 38.7% | 39.3% |
| EBITDA | 26 | 12 | 23 | 116.7% | 13.0% |
| PAT | 23.37 | 17.07 | 19.00 | 36.9% | 23.0% |
| EPS (₹) | 15.56 | 11.99 | 12.62 | 29.8% | 23.3% |
Margins stayed stuck
