/** blogpostTitle: Lohia Corp Q1 FY27: Order Book Surge, Margin Reset */

Lohia Corp Q1 FY27: Order Book Surge, Margin Reset

Lohia Corp Limited began its first quarter as a listed company with a clean, numbers-led message: volumes were up, operating leverage kicked in, and the order book continued to build. For Q1 FY27, consolidated revenue from operations stood at 503 crore, up 60% year on year. EBITDA came in at 100 crore with a 19.9% margin, and profit after tax rose to 66 crore.

The company manufactures machinery for the woven plastics (raffia) ecosystem. Its equipment is used to make PP and HDPE woven fabric and sacks that serve packaging uses such as cement, fertilizers, chemicals and food grains, and non-packaging uses such as geotextiles and ground cover. Management framed the quarter as a continuation of momentum across machines, aftermarket revenue, and other revenue streams.

In the quarterly revenue bridge shared in the presentation, machines remained the dominant contributor. Q1 FY27 machine revenue was 401 crore, while aftermarket revenue was 55 crore and other revenue was 47 crore. Exports accounted for about 41% of Q1 FY27 revenue, up from about 37% in Q4 FY26.

A quarter driven by execution and operating leverage

The income statement shows the scale-up clearly. Total income was 509.6 crore in Q1 FY27 versus 319.0 crore in Q1 FY26. Total expenses rose 42% year on year, slower than the revenue increase, lifting profitability. Profit before tax was 91.3 crore versus 23.5 crore in the prior-year quarter.

Management attributed the improvement in EBITDA margin to higher volumes, operating leverage, and better efficiencies. In the concall, the CFO also described actions that supported margin resilience: periodic revisions of sales prices for new orders to reflect input costs, short- to medium-term supply contracts to procure material at favorable prices, and tweaking discount structures.

Financial snapshot

Note: EBITDA is calculated excluding other income as stated in the presentation.

The order book is the real headline

For capital goods businesses, the most useful operating indicator is often the order book. Lohia’s pending order book has expanded sharply over the last five quarters. It stood at 909.7 crore at end-June 2025, rose to 1,358.5 crore at end-March 2026, and reached 1,778.2 crore at end-June 2026.

Management said the current execution cycle for the order book is typically 6 to 9 months. It also highlighted that exports constitute about 30% of the current orders in hand, even though export revenue share in Q1 FY27 was around 41%.

In the Q&A, the CFO addressed investor concern on whether the jump in order book is a short-lived peak. Management’s explanation was twofold. First, capex had slowed after the COVID period and is now seeing an uptick. Second, applications for woven plastic are broadening beyond traditional packaging, and the end products are positioned as outside the single-use plastics category, which management believes is helping adoption. While acknowledging capex cycles, management said it does not see the current order momentum as the peak.

Product mix and where revenue comes from

The presentation includes a FY26 revenue segmentation by product category. Circular looms formed the largest share at 33.3%, followed by tape extrusion lines at 20.3%. Other machines and equipment contributed 17.0%, spare parts 11.3%, tape winders 9.0%, and others 9.1%.

Using FY26 revenue from operations of 1,717.0 crore and applying the stated percentages gives an approximate product-level revenue view.

This mix matters for two reasons. First, it suggests that the company is not dependent on a single machine category. Second, the presence of spare parts as a double-digit share adds recurring characteristics, even though the core business remains capex-driven.

On the call, the CFO added a useful rule-of-thumb for spares: for a plant set-up worth 100 crore, management expects spare parts consumption of roughly 3% annually after commissioning. It also said gross margins on spares are about 2% to 3% higher than machinery.

Strategic initiatives: widening the addressable market

The company’s strategy section is unusually specific for a newly listed capital goods name. The stated priorities cluster around expanding global reach, strengthening processing and conversion capability, building newer adjacencies like monofilament and recycling, and improving operating efficiency.

A key theme is moving beyond the woven fabric stage into processing and conversion, where management said the global market is growing faster. The company points to a dedicated conversion unit in Bengaluru and the acquisition of Sundaram Industries’ lamination and coating machines business as enablers.

Another theme is the push into high-performance fibres and monofilament. The presentation mentions acquisitions and additions in this direction, including Leesona (acquired earlier), JJ Jenkins in the USA, and OMG M in Italy focused on extrusion plants for technical monofilament. In the concall, management linked this adjacency to applications such as technical textiles, ropes, fishing lines, artificial turf and medical products.

Recycling is a separate, longer runway. Management said it currently offers polyolefin recycling solutions and is not in polyester recycling yet, though aspirations include food-grade PET recycling in the future.

Quarterly execution: new launches and service infrastructure

The quarter also included tangible operational actions. Three new products were highlighted in the presentation:

1. A 1600 mm multilayer extrusion coating and lamination Co-Ex tandem line for high-performance building membranes and advanced technical textiles.
2. Automatic fabric cutting solutions for 1- and 2-loop FIBCs.
3. The Nova 6+ high-speed 6-shuttle circular loom with up to 1,150 picks per minute.

Alongside product launches, the company established a virtual remote assistance center at its Chaubepur unit in Kanpur. The intent is to provide real-time video and audio guidance to reduce response time and machine downtime. It also introduced a 3-month residential training and certification program at its training institute specifically for Blokomatic machine operations.

Capacity, capex posture, and what it implies

Management commentary suggests the company still has room to grow without immediate heavy capex. On the call, management indicated current capacities can support about 2,400 to 2,500 crore of turnover with balancing of equipment. It also stated it is operating at around 70% to 72% capacity utilization and can reach an ideal level of around 85%.

If expansion is needed, management said land is available adjacent to its Kanpur operations and that a capacity addition can be executed in roughly 5 to 6 months, depending on supplier lead times.

What investors should track from here

Two items deserve close monitoring.

First is the sustainability of margins. Management said pre-COVID EBITDA margins were typically in the 15% to 20% range, and it sees the 20% band as the internal target and new normal, while acknowledging that external variables such as raw material and supply conditions can move costs.

Second is export momentum. While Q1 export revenue share was around 41%, the order book mix disclosed in the presentation shows exports at around 30% of orders in hand. Management expects exports to stabilize around 50% over time based on historical patterns, but the near-term conversion of that expectation into orders will matter.

Closing take

Lohia Corp’s Q1 FY27 print was built on execution, not one-offs: revenue scaled, margins held near 20%, and the order book expanded to 1,778 crore. The combination of a large installed base, a meaningful spares stream, and clear adjacency plans in conversion, monofilament and recycling gives the story multiple levers.

The next few quarters will test whether the order book can stay elevated as the cycle progresses and whether margins remain resilient amid input-cost and geopolitical uncertainty. But as the first listed-quarter update goes, the company delivered strong operating momentum and a clear strategic narrative.