01 — At a Glance
The Stick-Everything Company That Trades Like a Tech IPO
- 52-Week High / Low₹1,575 / ₹1,343
- TTM Revenue₹14,159 Cr
- TTM PAT₹2,314 Cr
- Trailing EPS₹22.5
- Q3 EPS₹6.07
- Book Value₹93.9
- Price to Book15.27x
- Dividend Yield0.70%
- Debt / Equity0.05x
- Q3 UVG (Domestic)11.0%
Auditor’s Opening Note: Pidilite closed Q3 FY26 with ₹3,710 crore revenue (+10.1% QoQ), ₹624 crore PAT, 30% ROCE, and a P/E of 63x. Yes, sixty-three times earnings. For a glue company. Not a glue company that’s inventing some magical quantum adhesive. Just… regular adhesives, construction chemicals, and a brand so iconic Indians born yesterday still know it. The stock is up 4.2% in one year. Your bank FD is jealous. Not in the good way.
02 — Introduction
Fevicol: The Brand That Refuses to Come Unstuck From Your Portfolio
Let’s meet Pidilite Industries. The company that taught a entire nation that you can stick anything to anything — and in the process, stuck itself to become the default choice in adhesives, waterproofing, and construction chemicals. When you walk into a hardware store, you don’t ask for adhesive. You ask for Fevicol. That’s not marketing. That’s genericide — the good kind, where the brand name becomes the category itself.
Pidilite is the market leader in domestic adhesives with ~70% market share. That’s not second place territory. That’s “we are the market” territory. Beyond adhesives, they’ve built an empire: construction chemicals (Roff, Dr. Fixit), craft materials (Fevicryl), industrial adhesives, pigments, and enough sub-brands to fill a shelf at three different shops. They operate 33 manufacturing plants across India and have a distribution network that reaches 5,050 distributors and 200,000+ retail outlets.
Q3 FY26 delivered the usual: domestic volume growth at 11%, consolidated revenue at ₹3,710 crore (+10.1% QoQ), and PAT of ₹624 crore. All solid. Except — and this is the uncomfortable bit — global exports got slapped by U.S. tariffs on pigments. Management says this was “the harshest quarter” for exports and believes the pain is “largely behind us.” Time will tell if that optimism is well-earned or just hopeful CFO-speak.
On the valuation front, the stock trades at 63x P/E. For perspective: Infosys trades at 27x, TCS at 31x. Pidilite is being valued like a tech growth story. The question is whether a 9–10% growth company in adhesives and construction chemicals deserves a 63x multiple. Spoiler: the maths gets interesting fast.
Concall Highlight (Feb 2026): “Domestic UVG has been in excess of 11% in both Q2 and Q3, and has been inching up over the last 8 quarters.” Management is confident on domestic. But also revealed that Q3 was “the harshest quarter” for exports. Translation: home is booming, abroad is bleeding.
03 — Business Model: WTF Do They Stick Where?
Adhesives, Chemicals, and the Art of Making Things Permanent
Pidilite’s business breaks into two parts: Consumer & Bazaar (C&B) at ~80% of revenue, and Business-to-Business (B2B) at ~20%. Within C&B, adhesives and sealants account for 53% of revenues. Construction chemicals (waterproofing, tile adhesives, flooring) add another 20%. Art & craft, industrial resins, pigments, and others fill out the remaining 27%.
The beauty of this model is simplicity wrapped in execution. Fevicol adhesive doesn’t need distribution innovation — it sits on every hardware store counter in India. Roff waterproofing benefits from India’s construction boom. Tile adhesives are growing in double digits because vertical tiling (unlike flooring) is an unskilled labour game and tile adhesive reduces failure risk. The growth stories are real. The growth multiples, however, are another discussion.
Manufacturing happens across 33 plants in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Assam, and Andhra Pradesh. The company has been on a capex spree — they’ve invested ~₹800 crores in the last two years and completed 15 capacity projects out of a planned 29. Distribution reaches 5,050 primary dealers (PSDs) and 200,000+ downstream outlets. That’s deeper than most FMCG companies. When your growth is driven by penetration in tier-3 and rural India, that reach is non-negotiable.
C&B Revenue %~80%Consumer Focus
Adhesives %53%Core Category
Domestic UVG11.0%Q3 Performance
Market Share~70%Adhesives
Expansion Watch: Haisha Paints (small-town/rural paints) expanded to eastern states in Q3, though management admitted “we are not yet satisfied on scalability.” Translation: promising idea, still searching for the “right-to-win” model before going all-India. Electronics adhesives are also in play but expect 12–18 month cycles per specification round. Not fast, but real.
💬 Comment: Do you actively look for “Fevicol” or would any strong adhesive work? Or has the brand ownership become so complete that asking for alternatives feels weird?
04 — Financials Overview
Q3 FY26: The Numbers on the Table
Result type: Quarterly Results | Q3 EPS: ₹6.07 | Annualised EPS (Q3×4): ₹24.28 | Trailing 12M EPS: ₹22.52
| Metric (₹ Cr) |
Q3 FY26
Dec 2025 |
Q3 FY25
Dec 2024 |
Q2 FY26
Sep 2025 |
YoY % |
QoQ % |
| Consolidated Revenue | 3,710 | 3,369 | 3,554 | +10.1% | +4.4% |
| Operating Profit | 894 | 798 | 850 | +12.0% | +5.2% |
| OPM % | 24% | 24% | 24% | — | — |
| PAT | 624 | 557 | 585 | +12.0% | +6.7% |
| EPS (₹) | 6.07 | 5.43 | 5.69 | +11.8% | +6.7% |
P/E Recalculated: Trailing EPS (TTM) ₹22.52 ÷ CMP ₹1,434 = P/E of 63.0x. Yes, really. That’s at the bleeding edge of expensive for a company growing at 9–10%. Annual revenue growth is 9.75%, profit growth is 15.5% (aided by operating leverage). Q3 saw strong UVG at 9.3% domestically + 11% when you exclude export collapse. Operating margin stayed sticky at 24%, which is magnificent — but it’s not shifting the base case that 63x is a steep multiple for this growth pace.
05 — Valuation Discussion: Fair Value Range
Is Pidilite Worth ₹1,434? Or Should You Just Buy an Index Fund?
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