1. Opening Hook
While Morbi tile units quietly lock their shutters and cement guys suddenly sound optimistic, Orient Bell chose this quarter to remind everyone it still exists — and can flex margins when it wants to. Q2 FY26 wasn’t a blockbuster, but it wasn’t the snooze-fest of the last two years either. Revenue crawled, EBITDA stretched, and management sounded cautiously smug without saying the word “turnaround” out loud.
The industry is still nursing oversupply hangovers, gas costs haven’t magically disappeared, and dealers continue to run inventory-light like it’s a minimalist lifestyle choice. Yet, somewhere between AI tile visualisers, Bengali TV ads, and Morbi capacity exits, Orient Bell thinks the tide is turning.
Stick around — because behind the polite optimism, there’s margin repair, operating leverage dreams, and a subtle “we told you so” brewing.
2. At a Glance
- Revenue up 3% YoY – Not a sprint, but at least the treadmill is moving.
- Gross margin at 39% (+250 bps YoY) – Cost control finally doing what PPTs promised.
- EBITDA ₹9.8 cr (+22.5% YoY) – EBITDA woke up in Q2 after oversleeping in Q1.
- PBT ₹3.9 cr vs ₹0.8 cr – From pocket change to real money.
- Working capital at 26 days – Dealers still allergic to inventory, company coping well.
3. Management’s Key Commentary
“Cement and steel have shown good signs of revival.”
(Translation: If the foundation moves, tiles eventually get their moment 😏)
“No new significant capacity is coming up in Morbi.”
(Translation: Finally, fewer factories selling tiles
at chai-price)
“Exports are averaging ₹1,500–1,600 crore per month.”
(Translation: Excess supply is boarding ships instead of killing domestic prices)
“Our AI-based visualization tool has been welcomed warmly by dealers.”
(Translation: Dealers like shiny tech if it helps close sales faster)
“Vitrified tiles are now 58% of H1 sales.”
(Translation: Commodity ceramic is out, premium mix is in)
“We achieved a 3.7% reduction in manufacturing cost.”
(Translation: Cost-cutting actually worked this time 😏)
“We don’t give forward guidance.”
(Translation: We’ll hint heavily, but numbers are your problem)
4. Numbers Decoded
Metric Q2 FY26 YoY Change
----------------------------------------------------
Revenue +3% Slow but steady
Gross Margin 39% +250 bps
EBITDA ₹9.8 cr +22.5%
EBITDA Margin ~6% Repair mode ON
PBT ₹3.9 cr From ₹0.8 cr
Net Debt ₹3.6 cr Comfortably boring
Capacity Utilisation ~68% Still room to sweat assets
Marketing Spend ~3.8% of sales Brand-before-margin mindset
- Gross margin expansion is cost-led, not price-led.
- EBITDA recovery is pure operating leverage hope.
- Balance sheet quietly behaving like an adult.
5. Analyst Questions (Decoded)
