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Specialty chemicals ladder3 of 4 · finding 4 of 7
What's going on in specialty chemicals · 4 of 75/8

Then the quarter turned

The worst of five years just had the best quarter of its life.

DEEPAK NITRITE · EBITDA MARGIN 11% 18% 21% JUN 2025 MAR 2026 JUN 2026
Deepak+10.9
Acutaas+9.7
Navin+5.7
Aarti+3.4
SRF+2.8
Guj Fluoro0.0
Aether−0.2
PI−5.7
Margin change vs year-ago quarter, points

Every other finding here rests on five years of annual accounts. The June quarter says something else: five of the eight widened their operating margin against the same quarter a year before.

The turn is loudest at the company with the worst record. Deepak Nitrite ended FY26 with sales down 4.8%, profit down 21%, and return on capital down from 44.6% to 11.4%. Then:

“EBITDA reached an all-time high of ₹554 crore, growing 159% year-on-year and 45% sequentially, while EBITDA margins expanded to 21% compared with 11% last year.” Maulik Mehta, Deputy Managing Director · Deepak Nitrite · 6 August 2026

PI Industries is the only one going the other way — margin down 5.7 points, on a year when sales fell 15.8%.

One quarter is not a recovery. It is, however, the first quarter in five years that points up.

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A sector, read end to end, and the companies as they are published. Roughly monthly. Nothing else, and one click to stop.

Not advice. Quotes are from the companies’ own earnings calls; figures from their filings.