Q3 FY26 Concall · Feb 19, 2026
Knowledge Marine Q3 FY26 Concall Decoded:
56% Revenue Growth, 90% Profit Surge, And A Fleet Utility Rate That Makes Capacity Planners Weep With Joy
The marine dredging outfit crushed Q3 with ₹90 crores revenue, 43% EBITDA margins, and 100% fleet utilization. They raised ₹285 crores, subdivided shares, and investors finally realized India’s dredging gold rush isn’t just talk—it’s shovels and suction pumps.
Q3 Revenue₹90 Cr
YoY Growth+56%
EBITDA Margin43%
PAT Margin34%
Order Book₹1,500 Cr
01 — Opening Hook
The Dredger That Became A Ship-Builder Overnight
A decade ago, Knowledge Marine was a scrappy dredging contractor with a handful of vessels and ₹11 crore revenue. Fast-forward to Q3 FY26: they’re printing ₹90 crore revenue in a single quarter, running at 100% fleet utilization, and just secured ₹230 crores in shipbuilding contracts from the Inland Waterways Authority. Plus, they raised ₹285 crores in equity and split their shares from ₹10 to ₹5 like they’re preparing for retail investors who thought ₹1,500 was “too expensive.”
The real story? Government capex on inland waterways is no longer a pension fund’s wet dream—it’s real orders. National waterways are being dredged at scale. Ports need tugs, survey boats, and dredgers. And Knowledge Marine just positioned itself as India’s answer to “We can build it AND operate it.” Q3 numbers prove execution, not promises. But read on—because raising ₹285 crores and immediately deploying it across shipyards, vessel purchases, and working capital tells a story about scaling discipline.
The Plot Twist: Management actually delivered numbers to match the hype. Receivables spiked, but margins stayed elite. Debt climbed, but so did profitability. This isn’t a typical “growth story turning into a capital burn story.” This is different. Read why.
02 — At a Glance
The Quarterly Numbers That Made Spreadsheet Nerds Nervous
Q3 Revenue
₹90 Cr
+56% YoY. Q-o-Q: 79% growth. No spreadsheet sorcery, just orders rolling in.
Q3 EBITDA
43% Margin
₹38.54 Cr in absolute terms. Operating leverage firing on all cylinders.
Q3 PAT
₹32.89 Cr
34% net margin. Profit growth +91% YoY. Debt service a blip on the radar.
Fleet Utilization
100%
Dredgers: 270-300 days/year. Port craft: 365 days. Zero idle capacity.
Order Book
₹1,500 Cr
Dredging: ₹409 Cr. Charter: ₹863 Cr. Shipbuilding: ₹230 Cr. Multi-year visibility.
Share Split
₹10 → ₹5
Dec 22, 2025. Liquidity play for retail. Signal of confidence, or just optics?
The Real Story: Revenue + profit both scaling at 50%+ clip. Zero pretense. Fleet at max utilization. Order book covers 2+ years. Receivables spiked (131 days vs 86 days) but margins stayed pristine. Debt up ₹13 Cr, but interest coverage remains comfortable at 6.65x.
03 — Management’s Key Commentary
When Confidence Meets Humility (Rare In Earnings Calls)
Sujay Kewalramani (CEO): “This quarter and financial year have been transformational for us. We entered the commercial shipbuilding segment, securing orders worth over ₹230 crores from Inland Waterways Authority for work boats, accommodation boats, survey boats and cutter suction dredgers.”
✨ Translation: We went from pure dredging to vertically integrated builder-operator. This is how you scale in India’s marine sector. Government orders = predictable cash flow.
Kanak Kewalramani (CFO): “We have chosen to fall under the tonnage tax scheme. The tonnage tax will be applicable from the current year itself. If we are able to get compliance certificate from the Income Tax Department, then there is a method to calculate tonnage tax. We believe it is going to be significantly lower than the corporate tax.”
🧠 Translation: We optimized taxation. Expected effective tax <1% of turnover going forward. Free money that slides to EBITDA. Smart.
Sujay Kewalramani: “We have already built 45 crafts. In the last 11 years, this situation has not arisen where we have not been able to accept or buy a vessel once the contract is awarded to us. Usually we identify the vessel and then bid for the contract and enter into a soft agreement with the owners.”
🎯 Translation: We don’t bid blindly. We lock vessels pre-contract, then bid. Zero execution risk. This is operator discipline.
Sujay Kewalramani: “The push from the government towards DCI is because there is a huge demand. We have been investing in smaller dredgers. We plan to invest in larger dredgers going forward. There is no overlap between the assets. The subcontracting from DCI is going to continue.”
📊 Translation: DCI revival won’t cannibalize us. Rising tide lifts all boats. Literal. Naval joke intended.
Sujay Kewalramani: “In dredging, out of the overall market of ports, rivers and dams, we are less than 2% right now. In river dredging, the market size is going to increase from about ₹1,500 crores to close to ₹5,000 crores when all the 20 national waterways are made operational.”
🎪 Translation: We’re <2% of addressable market. Market is 3x-ing. Do the math. Room to scale without crushing peers.
Kanak Kewalramani: “Receivables ranges between 45 to max 60 days going forward. We had receivables higher in the first half because most revenue was booked in August and September. Going forward, receivable days will tend to decrease because the number of days in the Bahrain books were a little higher compared to the Indian books.”
💰 Translation: Receivables normalization is coming. August-September revenue spikes are seasonal. Working capital will stabilize.
04 — Numbers Decoded
The Financial Scorecard (Where Execution Lives)
