01 — At a Glance
The Dryer That Turned Into a Conglomerate
- 52-Week High / Low₹618 / ₹327
- Q3 FY26 Revenue₹157 Cr
- Q3 FY26 PAT₹23.2 Cr
- TTM EPS₹18.4
- Annualised EPS (Q3 Avg × 4)~₹17.9
- Book Value / Share₹108
- Price to Book4.61x
- FY26 Revenue Target₹625–₹650 Cr
- Order Book (Dec 2025)₹495 Cr
- ROCE21.7%
Flash Summary: Kilburn just posted Q3 PAT of ₹23.2 crore, up 52.7% YoY. Order book is ₹495 crore. Management is guiding for ₹625–₹650 crore revenue in FY26 (50% growth) and ₹800 crore by FY27. They acquired ME Energy in Feb 2024 for ₹99 crore and Monga Strayfield in Jan 2025. The stock is trading at 28.5x P/E. Wall Street would call this “priced for perfection.” Indians would call it “Ekta Kapoor serials of the stock market — drama guaranteed, ending uncertain.”
02 — Introduction
Why A Company That Dries Stuff Is Suddenly Diversifying
Let’s talk about Kilburn Engineering. Founded in 1987, they’re the OGs of industrial drying equipment in India. Rotary dryers, coolers, kilns, heat exchangers — you know, machines that take wet stuff and make it dry. Riveting stuff. Literally.
For 30+ years, they were content being the quiet masters of this niche. They served carbon black companies, fertilizer plants, petrochemical refineries, and the occasional pharmaceutical. Their customer base reads like a Forbes list: Reliance, BHEL, ONGC, Lupin, Cipla, PepsiCo. 3,000+ installations globally. Decent order book. Decent margins. Life was good.
Then around 2024, something shifted. The promoters looked around and said, “You know what? Dryers are cool and all, but let’s become thermal engineering experts. Let’s buy a waste heat recovery company. Let’s also acquire RF drying tech. Let’s become a $1 billion company by Thursday.” Enter ME Energy (February 2024, ₹99 crore) and Monga Strayfield (January 2025, ₹123 crore). Two acquisitions in 12 months. Two.
Management is now guiding for ₹625–₹650 crore FY26 revenue (50% growth), ₹800 crore FY27, and ₹1,000 crore after that. The order book swelled to ₹495 crore. ROCE is 21.7%. The rating agency upgraded them to ACUITE BBB+ with “Positive” outlook. And yet, the stock is down 11.5% in 3 months. Only in India does a company with 50% growth guidance trade lower than it did three months ago. Actually, that’s everywhere. Investors hate surprises, even good ones.
The Concall Verdict (Feb 2026): Management stayed confident on FY26 guidance, even after admitting Q3 margins were softer than expected. They cited freight costs from “very high exports” eating into other expenses. They acknowledged “quarter-to-quarter variability based on order mix.” And they kept reiterating ₹625–₹650 crore FY26, then ₹800 crore FY27. Translation: “We’re not wrong; the quarters are just zigzagging to the finish line.”
03 — Business Model: From Dryers to “Thermal Solutions”
They Dry Things. Then They Recovered Your Heat. Then They Bought RF Tech.
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