FDC Ltd FY26: ₹281 Crore Profit on a Sales Jump—But Something’s Off in the Numbers

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Prices referenced as of June 5, 2026, and are not live.

1. At a Glance

FDC reported FY26 sales of ₹2,171 Crore, up 3% YoY, and PAT of ₹281 Crore, up 5% from ₹267 Crore.

The company’s operating profit margin fell to 16% from 15% in FY25. International business declined 16% to ₹314 Crore, weighed down by US FDA delays that management says are behind them now.

Debt sits at ₹15.5 Crore against a market cap of ₹6,203 Crore—a D/E ratio of 0.01, which is what you’d expect from a company that nearly prints cash.

The multiple at ₹381 stands at 20.8x trailing EPS of ₹17.3. The stock has fallen 11% over the past year despite profit growth, and the balance sheet has grown more crowded with tied-up capital. One curiosity: FY26’s P&L shows a ₹631 Crore “Other Expenses” charge in a single line, unusual in size and vague in origin.

2. Introduction

FDC, founded in 1936, is among India’s leading fully integrated pharma manufacturers. The company has carved a niche in specialized formulations and is the world’s foremost maker of ORS—oral rehydration salts—a business that sounds unsexy but runs on repeat.

The company sells into 50+ countries; formulations make up 92% of revenue, bulk drugs 6%. Domestic accounts for 85% of sales; international 15%, down from 18% in FY24.

A CFO change occurred mid-year: Vijay D. Bhatt resigned in October 2025, replaced by Vishal Shah in late October. No stated reason; pharma CFOs leave for better roles.

The board approved a ₹140 Crore capex in April 2025 for expanding the Sinnar liquid oral facility to 77,000 KL per annum over 18–24 months, funded from internal accruals. The facility currently runs at 70–80% utilization.

3. Business Model: WTF Do They Even Do?

FDC is a formulations-heavy house. Its portfolio covers anti-infectives (Zifi, a cefixime oral), cardiovascular meds (Amondep-AT), anti-diabetics, respiratories, dermatology, and nutritionals. The company makes tablets, capsules, liquids, ophthalmic drops, topical gels.

The real hero: Electral, the ORS brand. In FY25, Electral held a 44% market share of the ORS category—not 44% of FDC’s portfolio, 44% of the entire Indian ORS market. A single brand that owns a category is a moat. The company also peddles Enerzal (a sports drink/electrolyte powder) and Vitcofol (vitamin + folic acid), both functional foods positioned at the “don’t screw this up” tier.

On the API side, FDC has in-house synthesis for select actives at Roha. In FY25, the company filed four patent applications for processes on latanoprostene bunod, bilastine, formoterol fumarate, and glycopyrronium bromide. One patent was granted for terminal sterilization of APIs.

Manufacturing is spread across nine facilities at five locations. Waluj (near Aurangabad) is the heartland—1M ORS sachets per month, 3M ophthalmics, 7.5M powders. Baddi (Himachal) runs solids and dry syrups. Roha handles bulk API synthesis (156 MT). Sinnar (Maharashtra) is the new frontier—125M ORS sachets monthly plus 28M food-powder sachets. Goa hosts two facilities (tablets, capsules, powder sachets). The company isn’t decentralized by accident; it’s decentralized by product type and supply chain risk.

In the US, the story is messier. FDC has FDA ANDA approvals for Cefixime and, as of May 2026, Cefixime oral suspension. But the US business tanked in FY25: it earned ₹27 Crore against a budget of ₹77 Crore due to NDSRI (New Drug Substance Reference Item) standard delays on FDA approvals. Management claims these are “largely addressed” now. Optimism is cheap; execution isn’t.

4. Financials Overview

Figures are consolidated, in ₹ crore.

Quarterly Performance (FY26):

The year was uneven. Q1 (Jun 2025) delivered ₹648 Crore sales, a 18.9% jump QoQ. Q2 (Sep 2025) contracted to ₹473 Crore. Q3 (Dec 2025) was ₹465 Crore. Q4 (Mar 2026) bounced to ₹585 Crore, driving the full-year lift. Net profit in Q4 landed at ₹103 Crore, a 167% surge from Q3’s ₹28 Crore.

The swing is real, not accounting fiction. Operating profit jumped from ₹34 Crore in Q3 to ₹106 Crore in Q4—both OPM and absolute dollar swing. This is seasonality, restocking, or a one-time order. Management hasn’t issued full-year guidance; the concalls don’t exist in the data.

Operating margin over the year fell to 15.9% from 16.1% in FY25—a contraction of 20 basis points despite flat absolute EBITDA. This suggests the 3% sales growth came at a lower margin, or cost pressures deepened. PAT margin stayed at 12.9%, flat to FY25.

5. Valuation Discussion: Fair Value Range (Educational Only)

What follows is a walkthrough of how three valuation methods work, using this company’s numbers as the example — not a target, not a forecast, not advice.

Method 1 (P/E Multiple): Annualized FY26 EPS is ₹17.29. The peer band (Sun Pharma, Lupin, Zydus) trades at 17.99–34.27x. At 20x (lower bound), arithmetic yields ₹346; at 30x (mid-band), ₹519.

Method 2 (EV/EBITDA): FY26 EBITDA is ₹405 Crore (Operating Profit + Depreciation: 346 + 59). Enterprise Value = Market Cap (₹6,203 Cr) + Net Debt (₹0, since cash ₹50 Cr offsets borrowings ₹15 Cr). EV/EBITDA is 15.3x. Peer band is 13.4–68.3x. At 13.4x, the arithmetic is ₹5,407 Cr value ÷ 16.28 Cr shares = ₹332. At 20x, ₹8,100 Cr ÷ 16.28 = ₹498.

Method 3 (Simplified DCF): Free Cash Flow FY26 is ₹40 Crore (Operating Cash ₹200 Cr − Capex ₹110 Cr − Interest ₹5 Cr − Tax ₹93 Cr). If FCF grows at 8% annually and the cost of capital is 10%, the perpetuity value is ₹40 × 1.08 ÷ (0.10 − 0.08) = ₹2,160 Cr. Per share: ₹2,160 ÷ 16.28 = ₹133. Upside to 12% growth produces ₹200, downside to 5% produces ₹95.

These figures show how the methods work and are not a valuation, a target, or advice.

6. What’s Cooking

US FDA Approvals (Tailwind): FDC received ANDA approval for Fluconazole tablets (50/100/150/200 mg) in January 2026 and Pilocarpine ophthalmic solution (1/2/4%, 15 mL) in October 2025. Cefixime suspension approval came in