Everest Kanto Cylinder Ltd Q1 FY26 – Gas Cylinder King with PAT +48%, P/E 13.5, Egypt Plant Loading, Reliance Biogas Orders Teasing 🚀
1. At a Glance
Everest Kanto Cylinder Ltd (EKC) is Asia’s largest gas cylinder manufacturer. With 20 million+ cylinders already out in the wild, the company’s products are everywhere: in your CNG car, in hospitals, in fire extinguishers, and soon, maybe even in Reliance’s biogas plants. Q1 FY26 saw PAT jump 48% YoY, operating margins at 16%, debt just ₹143 Cr, and a P/E of only 13.5. Yet, the stock is down 31% in the past year. Basically, the market treats it like a leaky gas balloon, but the numbers suggest the cylinder still has a lot of pressure left.
2. Introduction
Everest Kanto Cylinder has lived many lives. Once a market darling during India’s CNG push, it then became a penny stock horror story. But like every Bollywood villain, it keeps making comebacks. FY26 is shaping up as another chapter.
The story is straightforward: India’s CNG adoption is growing, Reliance’s ₹65,000 Cr biogas capex could be a jackpot, and EKC has low debt, solid utilization (~70% in India), and overseas expansion in Dubai, USA, and Egypt. Yet investors seem unconvinced – maybe because the stock has the personality of an LPG cylinder: useful, heavy, and occasionally explosive.
3. Business Model – WTF Do They Even Do?
EKC makes seamless steel and composite gas cylinders. Think of them as the Tupperware of high-pressure gases – except instead of mom’s sambar, they hold CNG, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and fire extinguisher agents.
Segments:
CNG Cylinders: For cars, buses, trucks. Customers include Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Ashok Leyland.
Medical Cylinders: Remember Covid oxygen shortages? EKC supplied those.
Hydrogen & Jumbo Cylinders: Big bets on green mobility.
Composite Cylinders: Lightweight, for new-age applications.
Geography Split 9MFY25:
India: 64%
UAE: 11%
USA & Hungary: 25%
So half their cylinders fuel Indian autos and city gas distributors (Torrent Gas, HPCL, IOCL, Adani), and the other half travel to global clients who prefer “Made in EKC” steel over Chinese imports.
