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1 — At a Glance
FY26 sits at a hinge. Revenue hit ₹1,159 crore, up 12.4%, but net profit fell 4.3% to ₹72 crore—a contradiction that management blames on timing, not demand. Operating profit and EBITDA both surged: EBITDA jumped 24.6% to ₹178 crore with margins expanding 150 basis points to 15.3%. The company divested three non-core verticals (heavy engineering, energy, automotive)—about 20% of revenue and margin-dilutive.
Q4 saw ₹142 crore of revenue slip into FY27 due to supply-chain disruptions and a monopolistic supplier prioritizing war contracts. No cancellations; just timing. With ₹749 crore in order backlog, ₹388 crore of that from defense, the setup is manufacturing-heavy rather than services-led—the company is shifting its economic model.
The stock pays 98.8x trailing earnings. P/E sits well above the peer median of 62.4x for Aerospace & Defense.
2 — Introduction
AXISCADES is a ₹7,809 crore market-cap engineering design-to-manufacturing house for defense, aerospace, electronics, and semiconductors. Founded in 1990, the company has moved from pure engineering services into execution: designing, integrating, and shipping hardware for missiles, radars, avionics, and fighter aircraft upgrades.
FY26 was management’s self-described “building year”—restructuring, divesting, buying capacity. The company announced ₹2,100 crore in capex across three manufacturing campuses (Devanahalli Aero Land, Missile Atmanirbhar Complex in Hyderabad, Devanahalli Campus itself). An aerospace manufacturing acquisition is in advanced stages for Q3 FY27.
The divestment to Akkodis (a Booz Allen subsidiary) transfers heavy engineering, energy, and automotive to Akkodis for USD 30.63 million—USD 23.4 million upfront, USD 7.4 million as earnout if FY27 thresholds hit. Divestiture closes Q2 FY27. On closure, an extraordinary gain of ₹175 crore is expected (about ₹41 per share in EPS).
Promoters hold 58%, DII 1.6%, FII 1.2%, public 39%.
3 — Business Model: WTF Do They Even Do?
AXISCADES breaks into two post-divestment pillars: Aerospace & Space Manufacturing and Defence, Electronics, Semiconductors, AI (ESAI).
Aerospace (34% of retained revenue): The company won a 10-year integrated Design & Manufacturing contract on the Portuguese EEA LUS222 aircraft—complete electrical wiring interconnection system (EWIS) from design through series production. Management claims this is the capstone: moving from charging 3% (as an architect) to 97% (as a builder). The subsidiary Mistral won ₹80 crore for mission computers and displays for HAL’s LCA Mk1A, and ₹25 crore for single-board computers—all manufacturing at the new Devanahalli Aero Land facility coming online through FY27.
Defence (33% of retained revenue): This is the core margin engine. Mistral (the subsidiary) is executing 21 active programmes: fighter upgrades (electronic control units, AESA radar exciter/receiver units, digital beam forming), submarine sonar, through-wall radar, drone detection, naval EW. The company won L1 on two Army contracts—navigation systems for Armoured Recovery Vehicles (ARV), and a gun proof-testing platform. Defence contributed ₹379 crore revenue in FY26 with 22.9% EBITDA margin.
ESAI / AI (12% of retained revenue): Restructured as Xida Inc., a Silicon Valley holding company with India/Vietnam engineering ops. The team recently shipped a USD 3.5 million recurring order to Qualcomm; Xida is evaluating two acquisitions to broaden its semiconductor, hyperscaler, and AI stack.
Geography: Europe leads at 38% of FY26 revenue (up from 32% in FY22), APAC 31%, USA 25%. The company is rebalancing away from US-only.
Order book: ₹749 crore total; ₹272 crore (36%) in defence. Management says FY27 revenue is tracking to ₹1,377 crore based on ₹927 crore under execution, ₹285 crore in “assured forecast visibility” (design wins), and ₹165 crore from acquisitions.
4 — Financials Overview
Figures are consolidated, in ₹ crore.
Metric
FY24
FY25
FY26
YoY %
Revenue
955.12
1,030.72
1,158.95
+12.4%
EBITDA
134.21
142.33
177.59
+24.6%
EBITDA Margin
14.0%
13.8%
15.3%
+150 bps
PAT (Reported)
32.81
74.94
71.92
-4.3%
EPS (Reported)
7.82
17.63
16.92
-2.3%
Normalized PAT
32.81
65.00
82.91
+27.6%
Normalized EPS
7.82
15.27
19.52
+27.8%
Q4 snapshot: Revenue ₹273 crore (unchanged YoY), operating profit ₹33 crore, PAT ₹0.4 crore. The collapse in Q4 profit was due to the ₹142 crore deferred revenue (₹45 crore defense manufacturing held by supply-chain disruption, ₹84 crore strategic electronics delayed by a monopolistic hardware supplier, ₹12.6 crore aerospace/defense contract shift).
Full-year picture: Revenue was strong across the quarters except Q4; EBITDA grew steadily. PAT was clouded by restructuring costs (₹9.8 crore), fair value charges on divested businesses (₹7.98 crore), and tax base differences vs FY25 (which had a one-time ₹10 crore reversal).
Management stated prior internal expectations were ₹215 crore EBITDA and ₹110 crore PAT—shortfall was entirely the Q4 timing slip and restructuring charges.
5 — Valuation Discussion: Fair Value Range (Educational Only)
