01 — At a Glance
The Battery Legend That’s Stuck in Traffic
- 52-Week High / Low₹475 / ₹272
- Q3 FY26 Revenue₹367 Cr
- Q3 FY26 PAT₹7.45 Cr
- TTM EPS₹5.52
- Annualised EPS (Q3 Avg × 4)₹4.08
- Book Value / Share₹65.0
- Price to Book4.30x
- Gross Debt₹357 Cr
- Net Debt (est.)₹317 Cr
- Return in 6 months-29.1%
Flash Summary: Eveready just delivered Q3 FY26 PAT of ₹7.45 crore—essentially flat YoY (0.53% growth). Revenue grew 10.1%, but margins got squashed like a battery in a two-year-old’s mouth. The stock has crashed 29.1% in six months. Yet the company is building a ₹180 crore alkaline factory and selling off ₹251 crore worth of Noida land. Something’s shifting. You just don’t know which way yet.
02 — Introduction
Eveready: Still The King, But The Crown Is Slipping
Let’s start with context: Eveready has been making batteries since 1934. That’s 1934. Your mutual fund advisor wasn’t even born yet. The company commands 52% market share in batteries (by value) and holds 70% of India’s organized flashlights market. In other words, if you’ve bought a battery in India in the last 20 years, statistically you’ve bought from Eveready. They’re the Aamir Khan of dry cells—ubiquitous, reliable, and somehow still making 90s-style decisions in a 2020s market.
But here’s the thing: ubiquity doesn’t automatically mean profitability. Q3 FY26 revenue grew 10.1% YoY to ₹367 crore, driven by “mixed but gradually stabilizing” demand and a 11.1% growth in batteries. The profit, however, barely budged. PAT came in at ₹7.45 crore—basically the same as last year’s ₹7.25 crore. The stock has tanked 29% in six months. Why? Zinc prices went up. The dollar got stronger. Their gross margins got compressed tighter than a sardine tin. Meanwhile, they’re in the middle of a ₹180 crore capex project to build an alkaline battery plant in Jammu—a bet that local manufacturing can fix the margin crisis.
This article is about a company caught between its glorious past and its uncertain future. The question isn’t whether Eveready can make batteries—they’ve proven that for 91 years. The question is whether they can make money from them in 2026.
Management Commentary (Feb 2026 Concall): Demand described as “mixed but gradually stabilizing.” Urban consumption remains “selective,” though rural is “relatively stable” with post-monsoon cash flows and agri realizations improving. Cost environment: “benign retail inflation” but renewed commodity volatility—zinc prices moved higher, the U.S. dollar strengthened. The company has “calibrated price increases across select battery categories,” especially premium portfolios. Expect pricing to flow through more fully in Q4 and FY27.
03 — Business Model: WTF Do They Even Do?
Batteries. Flashlights. Lights. Home Appliances. And Increasingly, Your Headaches.
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