Gokul Refoils FY2026: Castor Margins on Life Support

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At a Glance

The numbers landed in May: Gokul Refoils grew revenue 17% to ₹4,120 crore in FY2026, yet net profit collapsed 25% to ₹18.5 crore. The stock trades at 23.4x earnings against a peer median of 22.2x. Margins have caved — operating profit margin sank to 0.88% from more than 2% just five years ago. A commodity trader squeezed between rising input costs and stagnant pricing power.

The market has noticed. Share price drifted 3.7% down over the past year despite 17% revenue growth. Return on equity, at 5.2% on the latest year-end balance sheet, sits well below the company’s cost of capital. Something is rotting in Sidhpur.

Introduction

Gokul Refoils (NSE: GOKUL) sits in Gujarat’s oil-processing belt, near Sidhpur. The company was incorporated in 1992 by Balvantsinh Rajput and Kanubhai Thakkar, originally traders in sugar and edible oil. Over three decades, it has built crushing, extraction and refining capacity. In 2018, it sold its Haldia unit to Adani Wilmar for cash. Today it operates a subsidiary, Gokul Agri International, through which it runs most operations.

The company is part of the Gokul Group, ranked among India’s top three exporters of castor derivatives. Distribution touches 13 states via 160 distributors and 55,000 retailers. The holding is 73.5% promoter (Balvantsinh and family); the rest is scattered across FIIs (0.27%), public, and various nominee accounts.

Recent moves: In May 2026, the board approved FY2026 results and reappointed managing director Dharmendrasinh Rajput for a five-year term. The company also appointed Anil Mundra as internal auditor. No dividend paid; no dividends announced.

Business Model: WTF Do They Even Do?

Gokul processes oils. Start with oilseeds — mustard, groundnut, castor, soyabean — crush them, extract, refine. Sell edible oils under brands like Gokul, Vivaan, Tandurast. The company also manufactures castor oil derivatives: soap inputs, lubricants, hydraulic fluid, brake fluid, paint resins, pharmaceuticals, perfumes.

Revenue mix in FY2026: edible oils account for the bulk (~82%), castor derivatives for the margin. But “margin” is a generous word. The refinery processes 600 tonnes per day; solvent extraction handles 1,000 TPD. Capacity is not the bottleneck. Pricing is.

The group has built a distribution moat — 160 distributors, 55,000 retailers. It commands shelf space in snack oils. Yet branded sales are only 26% of total. The rest is commodity business: bulk, tender-based, price-taker stuff. Compare that to Marico (99% branded). You’re seeing why margins compress.

Castor derivatives are exports-heavy (~25% of revenue goes out), which sounded great until global castor prices tanked and competitors elsewhere offer the same thing cheaper. The company hedges commodity risk via forward contracts — good luck with that when the entire market moves sideways.

Financials Overview

Figures are consolidated, in ₹ crore.

Wait. Revenue up 17%, EBITDA down 47%. That’s the tension right there.

Quarterly update (Q4 FY2026): Sales hit ₹1,056 crore; net profit ₹5.85 crore. Operating margin cratered to 0.33% (33 basis points) — the worst in at least five years. The company made ₹3.45 crore operating profit on ₹1,056 crore turnover. That’s a rounding error.

The reason: input costs stayed elevated. Raw material cost (90% of COGS in oils) consumed ₹3,981 crore against ₹3,510 crore revenue in FY2025. In FY2026, it was ₹3,981 crore against ₹4,120 crore. Crush margin (sales minus raw material) narrowed catastrophically.

Other income propped up the numbers. In FY2026, ₹32.4 crore came from interest income (likely on cash balances and loans to related entities). Strip that out, and operating profit before tax is almost invisible.

Market Expectations & Historical Multiples

This section describes how the market is currently pricing the company and how that compares with its own history and peer group. It is descriptive, not predictive.

The market pays 23.4x earnings here, broadly in line with peers (22.2x) but well below its own five-year average of 28.6x.