Creative Graphic — Q3 FY26 earnings call

Call held 11 Mar 2026

Management summary

Creative Graphics Solutions India Limited reported H1 FY26 consolidated revenue of ₹175 crores and PAT of over ₹12 crores, driven by strong growth in its flexography and pharmaceutical packaging segments. The company is undergoing significant capacity expansion, including a new Wahren machine to triple Alu-Alu capacity and commissioning a new PVDC/PVC line. Management aims for ₹1000+ crores annual turnover, but acknowledges challenges from raw material price volatility and working capital management, actively seeking debt-based funding solutions.

Highlights

  • Consolidated revenue for H1 FY26 reached ₹175 crores.

  • PAT for H1 FY26 was over ₹12 crores.

  • New Wahren machine will increase Alu-Alu capacity from 8,000 tons to 20,000 tons, with first commercial sale expected in Q1 FY27.

  • New PVDC/PVC line commissioned, acquired for ₹2 crores (vs. ₹20 crores new), with 10-15% utilization expected next month.

  • Flexography business expanding with new plants in Oman and Bangalore.

Concerns

  • Middle East conflict and rising oil prices are causing supply chain volatility and potential temporary margin impact.

  • Aluminum price volatility impacts margins, though largely passed on to buyers, with no hedging due to high costs.

  • Working capital intensity due to 90-day credit periods for large pharma clients requires additional debt funding.

Key financials

3 periods

Headline

  • Profit CAGR
    68%
    YoY +68%

H1 FY26

  • Revenue
    ₹175 Cr
  • PAT
    ₹12 Cr

FY25

  • Revenue
    ₹250 Cr
  • PAT
    ₹20 Cr
  • Revenue CAGR
    51%
    YoY +51%

What they filed

Q4 FY26: revenue up 102.4%, net profit up 75.0% against the same quarter last year.

₹ Cr · quarterly
Line itemQ4 FY23Q2 FY24Q4 FY24Q2 FY25Q4 FY25Q2 FY26Q4 FY26
Revenue48 48 84 113 138 +188%176 +267%170 +102%
EBITDA8 12 7 13 19 +138%21 +75%12 +71%
Net profit5 7 4 9 12 +140%12 +71%7 +75%
How to read this

₹ crore, as filed. The percentage beside a figure is the change against the same quarter a year earlier — never the quarter before, which would make every seasonal business look like it collapses and booms each year.

Segment breakdown

  • Pharma Packaging (Alu-Alu, PVDC, PVC, Tandem)
    75% Contribution to Pharma Packaging
  • Wahren (Alu-Alu) Revenue Potential
    ₹700 Cr Revenue Potential
  • PVDC Revenue Potential
    ₹200 Cr Revenue Potential
  • Tandem Line Revenue Potential
    ₹100 Cr Revenue Potential

Order book

medium confidence
Management indicates strong demand, with order book consistently exceeding supply capacity, leading to orders spilling into the next month.

Source: Q&A

Capital allocation

medium confidence
  • Capex Capex disclosed
    • New flexography plants in Oman and Bangalore
    • 3 new lines in pharmaceutical packaging (tandem, PVC, PVDC)
    • Alu-Alu capacity expansion
    all the Capex is completed, that we mentioned, so we are doing several new expansions in the business in the flexography business, we have two new plants, which is Oman and Bangalore. And in the flexography, in the pharmaceutical packaging business, we have 3 new lines, the tandem line, the PVC, PVDC line, and the Alu-Alu capacity expansion. So, a lot of expansion going on.
  • Debt Debt disclosed
    • New borrowing Actively seeking more debt to fund working capital requirements.
    So, we are working with what the market is expecting from us. We are right now looking at more debt, so that we can fund the working capital, and we are actively speaking with some financiers who can provide off-balance sheet solutions to step on our behalf and fund the debtors. So this is a scalable or balance sheet program.
  • Liquidity Liquidity disclosed Actively seeking debt-focused funding for working capital requirements, with a resolution expected within one month.
    We will definitely require working capital. ... I think within... within the next one month, we should be able to have something.

Guidance & targets

Revenue

  • Annual Revenue Growth Revenue · Every year · Medium confidence Double every year
    So, we have stated earlier that we are looking to double our revenue every year. It will not happen in a straight line. But there will be, you know, lockstep kind of, growth. So, you can, basically do the forecasting from there.

    — Pulkit Agrawal

  • Annual Turnover Revenue · Next couple of years · Medium confidence ₹1000+ crores
    I believe we have a visibility to achieve thousand plus crores of annual turnover. Now it is up to us to execute on this plan and achieve that over a period of the next couple of years.

    — Pulkit Agrawal

Capacity Utilization

  • Alu-Alu Capacity Utilization Capacity Utilization · FY27 · High confidence 50%+
    So as far as the ALU ALU is concerned. We would be having a 20,000-ton capacity, installed capacity, and You think we would be able to achieve more than 50% of the installed capacity in year 27?

    — Deepanshu Goel

  • PVDC Capacity Utilization Capacity Utilization · FY27 · High confidence 30-40%
    and as far as the PVDC, other kinds of concern, we think that we would have an overall capitalization in the need of 30-40% to start for the FY27.

    — Deepanshu Goel

Margin

  • Alu-Alu EBITDA Margin Margin · Long term · High confidence 11-13%
    In the long term, we expect our EBITDA margins in the ALU-ALU value business to be low teens 11, 12%, maybe 13%

    — Pulkit Agrawal

  • Flexography EBITDA Margin Margin · Ongoing · High confidence High teens to low 20s
    And the Flexography business should continue to hold its EBITDA margins of high teens to low 20s.

    — Pulkit Agrawal

Revenue Composition

  • Pharma Packaging Contribution to ₹1000 Cr Turnover Revenue Composition · Achieving ₹1000 Cr · High confidence 75-80%
    So, Alu Alu value, I would say, around 75% to 80% will come from the pharma packaging business, which will include Alu-Alu, which will have PVC, PVDC, which will have the tandem line.

    — Pulkit Agrawal

What to watch in Q4 FY26

Commercial sale from new Wahren machine

Q1 next year (FY27)
Current In last leg of commissioning, sampling started
Target First commercial sale

Why it matters

Signals revenue generation from significant capacity expansion in pharmaceutical packaging.

This is in the last leg of commissioning and we think that we will have a first commercial sale of the new machine from the first quarter of the next year.

Risks & concerns

  • Working capital intensity

    high

    90-day credit period for large pharma clients increases working capital requirements, necessitating additional debt funding.

    Analyst acknowledged

  • Middle East conflict and rising oil prices

    medium

    Volatility in supply chain and freight costs, potential temporary margin impact due to geopolitical events.

    Analyst acknowledged

  • Aluminum price volatility

    medium

    Aluminum prices are volatile, impacting margins, but the company largely passes on price changes to buyers and does not hedge due to high costs.

    Analyst acknowledged

Q&A highlights

6 direct, 1 evasive
Impact of Middle East conflict and oil prices on margins Evasive
The right knowledge of VUCA world is a lot of volatility, a lot of turbulence. It would not be right to give a right percentage; it would not be possible to give an exact percentage of impact. So, we are just waiting and watching, because there's a lot of impact on the supply chain also. The freight has been increasing. We are trying to commit to convert this change to the supplier, we are just waiting, and it will be too early to judge all these kinds of implied as if now.

Management acknowledges volatility but refrains from quantifying margin impact, indicating uncertainty.

Asked by Prasenjit Paul

Timeline for achieving ₹1000 crore turnover target Partial
So, we have stated earlier that we are looking to double our revenue every year. It will not happen in a straight line. But there will be, you know, lockstep kind of, growth. So, you can, basically do the forecasting from there.

Clarifies the ambitious growth target but avoids a specific timeline, making it harder to track.

Asked by Prasenjit Paul

Sustainability of current margin levels given low-margin product contribution Direct
Very temporary situation, Prasenjit, as for the margin is concerned, it could have some impact currently, but over a period of time, we don't see any impact of war on our profit profile.

Management believes current margin pressure is temporary and not a long-term structural issue.

Asked by Prasenjit Paul

Oversupply in aluminum packaging sector and impact of rising aluminum prices Direct
So, when it comes to oversupply, we really don't see our orders per month are getting spilled to the next month. We are getting strong traction of orders for the exports also... But largely, we are able to transfer any price changes to our buyers. We take orders every month, and the prices are on a N-1 basis.

Management indicates strong demand despite market concerns and ability to pass on price increases, mitigating risk.

Asked by Subham Jain

Need for additional funds to achieve ₹1000 crore turnover target Direct
the first thing is that we are largely done with the Capex. We don't require any capex, maybe the large capex as of now, maybe a small here or there for some kind of material or some kind of a small capacity changes or some extension of something, but not nothing major. So, as for the working capitals are required, we would try to take that as much as possible initially, when required. We don't have any plan as of now to dilute the equity further.

Management clarifies that major capex is complete, and future funding needs are primarily for working capital, with no immediate equity dilution plans.

Asked by Shubham Jain

Managing working capital given 90-day credit period for large pharma clients Direct
So, our, debtor's days have now transitioned to a higher number, as we are continuously targeting bigger and larger customers and in the pharma industry, it seems 90 days is the norm. So, we are working with what the market is expecting from us. We are right now looking at more debt, so that we can fund the working capital, and we are actively speaking with some financiers who can provide off-balance sheet solutions to step on our behalf and fund the debtors. So this is a scalable or balance sheet program.

Highlights the working capital challenge due to industry norms and outlines strategy to use debt and off-balance sheet solutions.

Asked by Shubham Jain

Hedging aluminum prices given volatility Direct
I think the hedging costs have been prohibitively high in recent times. Other than that, we have no inhibition from hedging.

Explains why the company is not hedging, citing high costs, which exposes them to price volatility.

Asked by Raunak Bansal

Impact of aluminum price rise on PAT margins Direct
So the whole of the Profit is not about the change in the pricing of aluminum. It is only not only the aluminum. There have been a lot of expansion going on. You know, there have been a lot of expansion, the new addition, so that is maybe a temporary some pressure on PAT, or profit profile but on a longer duration, we don't see any challenge of this slot.

Management attributes PAT pressure to temporary factors like expansion costs rather than solely aluminum prices, suggesting a short-term impact.

Asked by Manhar Rao Yadav

3 min read 7 chapters

Detailed narrative

Company Overview & Business Verticals

Creative Graphics Solutions India Limited operates through three main arms: Creative Graphics (flexographic printing plates), Wahren India Private Limited (pharmaceutical packaging), and CG Premedia (mock-ups and artwork solutions). The company, listed on April 9th last year, leverages common client bases across these verticals, particularly in the pharmaceutical sector. This integrated approach allows for cross-selling and deeper market penetration.

Capacity Expansion & New Facilities

The company is undergoing significant capacity expansion, with all major capex largely completed. This includes new flexography units in Oman and Bangalore, strategically positioned for market access. In pharmaceutical packaging, a new Italian machine has been acquired to increase Alu-Alu capacity from 8,000 tons to 20,000 tons, with commercial sales anticipated in Q1 FY27. Additionally, a new PVDC/PVC line, acquired at a low cost of ₹2 crores (vs. ₹20 crores new), has been commissioned and is expected to reach 10-15% utilization next month.

Pharmaceutical Packaging Business (Wahren)

Wahren, soft-launched in 2023, has rapidly grown, achieving 80% capacity utilization within 2.5 years. The expanded Alu-Alu capacity is projected to generate ₹700-750 crores in revenue at full utilization. The new PVDC/PVC line has a potential of ₹200-250 crores, offering a less competitive product line. The specialized tandem line is expected to add ₹100 crores annually at full capacity, enabling the production of specialized products like CR foils and contraceptive films.

Flexographic Printing Business

Flexography is highlighted as a safe, sustainable, and versatile printing process, applicable to labels, flexible packaging, and corrugated boxes. Creative Graphics benefits from its nine units across India, enabling high-quality, timely delivery to large clients like Emami, Tata Chemicals, Unilever, P&G, and PepsiCo. The company maintains high teens to low 20s EBITDA margins in this segment, emphasizing its technical expertise and robust infrastructure.

Financial Performance & Growth Strategy

For H1 FY26, the company reported a consolidated revenue of ₹175 crores and a PAT of over ₹12 crores. FY25 saw a revenue of ₹250+ crores and a PAT of ₹20+ crores, with a revenue CAGR of 51%. Management aims to double revenue annually and achieve ₹1000+ crores annual turnover in the next couple of years, with 75-80% contribution from the pharma packaging business. This growth is expected to be driven by new capacities and product diversification.

Working Capital & Funding

The company faces working capital intensity due to the 90-day credit period prevalent with large pharma clients, which is standard in the industry. To address this, management is actively seeking additional debt and off-balance sheet solutions, with a resolution expected within the next month. Major capex is largely complete, and future funding needs are primarily for working capital, with no immediate plans for equity dilution.

Market Dynamics & Raw Material Volatility

Management acknowledges volatility in raw material prices, particularly aluminum, but states it can largely pass on price changes to buyers using an N-1 pricing basis. Despite analyst concerns about oversupply in the aluminum packaging sector, management sees strong demand and export traction. The company is not hedging due to prohibitively high costs, which exposes them to price volatility but avoids high hedging expenses.

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