Symphony Limited (BOM:517385)
India flag India · Delayed Price · Currency is INR
592.50
-13.85 (-2.28%)
At close: Sep 11, 2026
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Transcript

Sep 10, 2026

Summary

Q2 and H1 FY 2026 saw sharp revenue and profit declines due to a weak summer and high channel inventory, though year-round products cushioned the impact. Management expects normalization and improved performance as the season approaches, with strong treasury and stable market share among organized players.

Moderator

Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Symphony Limited 2Q FY 2026 earnings conference call hosted by Equirus Securities Private Limited. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Manoj Gori from Equirus Securities Private Limited. Thank you and over to you, sir.

Manoj Gori
Analyst, Equirus Securities Private Limited

Yeah. Thank you, Rituja. Hello, good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to 2Q and H1 of FY 2026 earnings call of Symphony Limited. From management side today we have with us Mr. Achal Bakeri, Chairman and Managing Director. Mr. Nrupesh Shah, Managing Director, Corporate Affairs. Mr. Amit Kumar, Executive Director and Group CEO. And Mr. Rajesh Mishra, CEO, International Business. I would now request Mr. Achal sir to start with the opening remarks and yes sir, over to you, sir.

Achal Bakeri
Chairman and Managing Director, Symphony Limited

Thank you very much, Manoj and a warm welcome to all the participants to this call of Symphony today. Thank you very much for being here. To begin with, let me be upfront that our performance in of last quarter has been very disappointing. Very much for us, and as I am sure as it is for you. But to put things into perspective, just to set the context. For the first six months, this was still the third highest performance that the company has delivered. And for the previous quarter, which ended in June, it was the second highest in the company's history. Not that it matters as far as all of you are concerned, what really you expect from us is to deliver growth every quarter-on-quarter and YoY, so that's our job and that's what we are supposed to do.

Being in a seasonal business, the nature of the beast is such that you are dependent on factors beyond your control. And while we had a phenomenal summer in 2024, the summer was phenomenally bad in 2025, as I am sure all of you know. The entire industry, the air cooler industry has de-grown substantially and the sales of air coolers of all our competitors have also de-grown substantially. So our performance is more or less in sync with what's happened at the overall market level. That said, the heavens haven't fallen. We are here to make sure that we are trying our best to deliver better performance going forward. And we are sure that next summer will not really be as bad as last summer 2025. It may not even be as great as the 2024 summer.

But even if it's a normal summer, the company should do very well. We do have very high inventory levels in the channel, which is why the performance in the September quarter hasn't been what it should have been, b ut that inventory should sort of normalize as we get into the season. The season should fare certainly very well. Essentially that's what I'd wanted to say, that while the performance is very disappointing, we shouldn't sort of draw conclusions from it because at the same time, company's also working on other product categories, which are either counter-seasonal or year-round products such as our industrial cooler sales or our water heaters, our tower fans, our kitchen coolers, exports from India. We are working on various other avenues of revenue as well.

Agreed that those are yet to be substantial individually, but together all of them have contributed significantly in the last quarter or have been contributing significantly over the last several quarters. With that, I think all I would like to say is that we expect good times in the future, while accepting that what we have gone through has been disappointing, to put it mildly. Thank you and I'll hand over to Nrupesh Shah to make a presentation post which we are all here to address your queries. Thank you.

Nrupesh Shah
Managing Director of Corporate Affairs, Symphony Limited

Thank you, Achal-bhai. Good afternoon. For this quarter, the top line has been INR 155 crore on a standalone basis vis-à-vis INR 259 crore for September 2024 while EBITDA stood at INR 27 crore and profit after tax INR 28 crore versus INR 67 crore. As Achal-bhai mentioned, this is spillover of subdued summer or bad summer of 2025 and on top of it, high base of last year. It is on account of round the year product portfolio, which we have very carefully nurtured and developed over a period of time, which includes large space ventilated air cooling, tower fans, kitchen cooling fans, water heaters, and exports from India. In all, it has, to an extent, saved the day as they have contributed about 24% of the top line for the quarter and 26% of the top line in trailing 12 months.

Hence, that has made to first six months top line, third highest, even though Y-o-Y there is a major degrowth. This is based on the compilation of the data we have done for last 11 years quarterly as well as for six months. In that respect, in the past, we have seen the quarters like this, and we have always rebounded much stronger, much better, and that's what we expect. A lot of work is being done and in pipeline in that regard. As far as EBITDA margin is concerned, it has declined. One, and mainly on account of operating deleverage, and we have also launched the product for the mass consumers and mass products. So that has to an extent impacted the product mix. We have launched nine new models of air coolers in Air Force range from three to seven SKUs.

That is targeted towards mass market as well as rural and semi-urban market, while in water heater, total eight models, six storage and two instant. Coming to the update about the Hathway recovery, which if you recollect, we had completely written off in December 2024, about INR 50 crore. Earlier we received INR 4.5 crore, and in October, post September 30, we have recovered additional INR 4 crore. All legal steps are being pursued aggressively in addition to creation of charge in our favor on all the valuable real estates held by promoters as well as the company. About interim dividend, it is INR 1 per share, that is 50%, and total payout in first six months towards that is approx INR 14 crore.

About first half of financial year 2026, top line is INR 384 crore. About EBITDA, it is INR 50 crore, and standalone PAT stands at about INR 65 crore, down from INR 136 crore. While capital employed in the core business is INR 16 crore, and total treasury as on 30th September stands at INR 577 crore versus INR 685 crore. This translates into ROCE percentage on the core capital employed in high four digit, mainly on account of negligible or negative working capital and capital employed during six months. About consolidated financials. That covers continuing operations, that is, Symphony India, GSK China and Brazil put together. Top line of INR 163 crore, down from INR 289 crore and EBITDA of INR 25 crore, down from INR 76 crore, while PAT on continuing operations stand at INR 25 crore.

Coming to operations proposed to discontinue, which includes Climate Technologies and IMPCO Mexico, the PAT for the quarter is INR -6 crore, better than September 2024, wherein it was INR -14 crore. All in all, combined PAT, all companies put together is INR 19 crore. At a console level for April to September 2026, top line stands at INR 414 crore, down from INR 682 crore, EBITDA at INR 50 crore, and PAT from continuing operations stand at INR 64 crore. Discontinued operations, INR -3 crore versus INR +1 crore. All put together, console PAT stands at INR 61 crore. At a console level, in the first half, capital employed which stands at INR 288 crore versus INR 286 crore, translating into ROCE in the core business of 64% and return on net worth of 17%.

Coming to subsidiary financials about GSK China for the quarter. Top line is up from INR 25 crore-INR 30 crore. EBITDA stands at INR 3 crore and PAT at INR 2 crore. We are happy to share that there is a strong growth momentum and that has been sustaining GSK China, and it is advancing towards completely debt-free company very shortly. About IPR update, which was shared earlier, all in all about INR 45 crore, INR 22 crore has been already paid off by GSK China from its sale profits to IMPCO Mexico and remaining about INR 23 crore is expected to be received in December quarter. At the peak, the loan given by Symphony India to GSK China was INR 61 crore, which currently stands above INR 30 crore and that should be completely paid off in ensuring quarters.

About IMPCO Mexico for the quarter, which is a non-seasonal quarter as far as Air Force goes. But on account of other products, the top line is up from INR 10 crore- INR 17 crore and EBITDA is INR -4, INR -5. As far as Climate Technologies is concerned, it continues somewhat growth momentum in line with past three quarters. Top line is up from INR 30 crore- INR 35 crore and EBITDA losses have reduced from INR 9 crore- INR 7 crore. That transformation, what we had initiated, is completely executed and the focus is on increasing the top line and profitability. About the strategic outlook and way forward. On the one hand, we are cementing our core leadership in the air cooling business and on the other hand, strategic resilience beyond seasonality, that is the products selling round the year.

As far as cementing core leadership in air cooling goes, the omni-channel acceleration is going on very well, leveraging digital platforms and alternate channels not only in sales and marketing but in various operations. There is a targeted penetration in semi-urban and rural market, coupled with suitable products and dynamic product expansion, including for masses and semi-urban and rural market, including Air Force range of products. While coming to round the year products, we expect that there is a huge potential and growth momentum, so suitable dealer and distribution network along with omni-channel network is continuously being beefed up in that respect, which is not necessarily the same as far as domestic air coolers are concerned. That is also adding to the diversification and we are prioritizing on high margin growth markets and export led expansion from India. Thank you.

Moderator

Shall we begin with the question- and- answer session, sir?

Nrupesh Shah
Managing Director of Corporate Affairs, Symphony Limited

Yes.

Moderator

Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question- and- answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Shraddha Kapadia from SMIFS. Please go ahead.

Shraddha Kapadia
Research Analyst, SMIFS

Hello, am I audible?

Nrupesh Shah
Managing Director of Corporate Affairs, Symphony Limited

You are.

Shraddha Kapadia
Research Analyst, SMIFS

Yeah. This is mainly with regards to the inventory. What is the current inventory holding in the GT and the B2B channels versus the normalized levels? By when do we expect the full channels to get normalized?

Achal Bakeri
Chairman and Managing Director, Symphony Limited

While the inventory is a little higher than the previous year, we have to understand that that is despite a much lower sale from us. That has caused a sort of and there has been a decompression in sales at the GT level, which is causing a sort of negative sentiment amongst the players for the moment until the season picks up. What was your second question?

Shraddha Kapadia
Research Analyst, SMIFS

When do you expect this to normalize?

Achal Bakeri
Chairman and Managing Director, Symphony Limited

That will get normalized, as I said in my opening remarks, as we get closer into the season.

Shraddha Kapadia
Research Analyst, SMIFS

Okay. Also, sir-

Amit Kumar
Executive Director and Group CEO, Symphony Limited

Every year.

Shraddha Kapadia
Research Analyst, SMIFS

Sorry?

Nrupesh Shah
Managing Director of Corporate Affairs, Symphony Limited

Yes. That is normal phenomena every year. Otherwise, also during off-season, whatever is the off-take or carry-forward of inventory, trade is used to carry forward and stock it until summer starts.

Shraddha Kapadia
Research Analyst, SMIFS

Sure, sir. Sure. Also, are the distributors very cautious in placing the orders? If so, what are the steps that we are taking to rebuild the confidence?

Amit Kumar
Executive Director and Group CEO, Symphony Limited

Shraddha, as we said earlier, there is a slightly higher than normal stock at this point in time compared to, let us say, a typical year. There is some caution in the channel. At the same time, post, especially these festive season sales that have happened, the channel mood we anticipate is getting better. We see that the build-up to the season going forward should start smoothening the overall channel sentiment.

Shraddha Kapadia
Research Analyst, SMIFS

Okay. Sure, sir. Can I ask one more question?

Amit Kumar
Executive Director and Group CEO, Symphony Limited

Yes, please.

Shraddha Kapadia
Research Analyst, SMIFS

Yeah, sure. How much would be the contribution of our down the year portfolio right now to our revenue?

Amit Kumar
Executive Director and Group CEO, Symphony Limited

Yeah. As we mentioned also during the call, which I will repeat, for H1, it was about 26% of the total H1 sales that we have.

Shraddha Kapadia
Research Analyst, SMIFS

Okay, sure. Sure. That was quite helpful. Thank you.

Amit Kumar
Executive Director and Group CEO, Symphony Limited

Thank you, Shraddha.

Moderator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, to ask a question, you may press star and one now. The next question is from the line of Keshav Lahoti from HDFC Securities. Please go ahead.

Keshav Lahoti
Analyst, HDFC Securities

Hi, thank you for the opportunity. Sir, as we highlighted, channel inventory is slightly higher than normal. Can you please quantify, like normally, how many days it is and where is it now in terms of Q3 sales?

Amit Kumar
Executive Director and Group CEO, Symphony Limited

Because this is a-

Keshav Lahoti
Analyst, HDFC Securities

And just to follow up on this, is it a fair understanding, you mean by the time the season comes, so you mean there will be higher channel inventory, maybe possibly by FY 2026 ending. So your Q3 and Q4 performance still would be impacted by higher channel inventory.

Amit Kumar
Executive Director and Group CEO, Symphony Limited

Keshav, let's say, maybe if I look at last two years, typically the first quarter billing that we do is give or take about 20%- 25% of the full year numbers, which if taken differently, let's say end of the Q2, the channel carries about, let's say, anywhere between 25%- 30% of the season sales as part of the inventory. At this point in time, it's slightly higher than that. And typically, starting January to February, this inventory level starts going down because the materials start moving both at the retailer level as well as to some extent to the consumer level.

Achal Bakeri
Chairman and Managing Director, Symphony Limited

Also in January, February 2025, were fairly warm. So we had very good sales in those months and tertiary sales of retail sales at the dealer level. And hopefully, the same thing will happen again this year. So by the end of the year, at least the last quarter, the sales should be sort of back on track, and so should the inventory.

Keshav Lahoti
Analyst, HDFC Securities

Got it. Possible to quantify? As you said, 25%, 30% is normal inventory normally at this point of time, but how much is it right now?

Amit Kumar
Executive Director and Group CEO, Symphony Limited

Difficult to quantify.

Keshav Lahoti
Analyst, HDFC Securities

Understood. Got it. As you highlighted, the non-seasonal products slide is 26% of your sales, like tower fan and others. How has been the growth in that product portfolio year-on-year?

Nrupesh Shah
Managing Director of Corporate Affairs, Symphony Limited

There has been a decent growth and almost in line with the business plan, and that consists of tower fan, kitchen fan, large space ventilated cooling, geyser, and exports from India.

Keshav Lahoti
Analyst, HDFC Securities

Got it. Okay. That is good to hear. Your cooler possibly would have declined more than 50%.

Amit Kumar
Executive Director and Group CEO, Symphony Limited

No, no. Cooler has not declined more than 50%. Cooler has declined more or less in line with the shrinkage of the industry.

Keshav Lahoti
Analyst, HDFC Securities

Got it. Tell me one more thing. Your market share, according to you, has broadly been stable in the H1 FY 2026. It hasn't changed much.

Amit Kumar
Executive Director and Group CEO, Symphony Limited

Absolutely. See, for like to like, when we talk about the national brands, the organized sector players, our market share has remained the same. Now it's-

Achal Bakeri
Chairman and Managing Director, Symphony Limited

If people consider a lot of the unorganized sort of smaller brands, then of course, if you increase the denominator, then everybody's market share would decrease, not only Symphony's, but even the top three or five, seven players. If you ignore the long tail, of which there are more than 100 players, then our market share remains the same.

Keshav Lahoti
Analyst, HDFC Securities

Got it. Any impact of U.S. tariff?

Achal Bakeri
Chairman and Managing Director, Symphony Limited

Not much so far because our only competition is with China, and China is worse off than us. In that sense, it hasn't really impacted us to a great deal, at least till now.

Keshav Lahoti
Analyst, HDFC Securities

Got it. If I see your quarterly results, your rest of world revenue have dropped to INR 20 crore from INR 50 crore year-on-year. What is the reason for such a sharp drop? Lastly, how are the things going on divestment side of the two subsidiaries? Any breakthrough? When should we expect it to happen?

Achal Bakeri
Chairman and Managing Director, Symphony Limited

The rest of the world.

Nrupesh Shah
Managing Director of Corporate Affairs, Symphony Limited

No, sir. About dropping subsidiary sales, last year, we had prepanned the sale to Brazil, and that was registered in September quarter. Brazil is a trading subsidiary. Ideally, Brazil picture should be seen year as a whole because it is quite skewed to one quarter or two quarters. So mainly on account of that. Otherwise, as we saw for the quarter, for IMPCO Mexico as well as for GSK China, for the quarter, there has been growth. Of course, for IMPCO Mexico in first quarter, that is in June quarter, there was a degrowth. So six months as a whole, one, IMPCO, and secondly, this Brazil.

Achal Bakeri
Chairman and Managing Director, Symphony Limited

The second question related to IP transaction.

Nrupesh Shah
Managing Director of Corporate Affairs, Symphony Limited

Yeah. Your second question was related to IP transactions. So process is on. Information memorandum has been submitted, and we have received some letters of interest, and they are being suitably dealt with.

Keshav Lahoti
Analyst, HDFC Securities

Okay, as in the letter of interest, surely we have buyers for both the subsidiaries. Just possibly the transaction amount, which is possibly where we are stuck over. But buyer is not an issue.

Nrupesh Shah
Managing Director of Corporate Affairs, Symphony Limited

It is a sensitive matter, and still at this level, it will be too premature to share anything in that respect beyond this.

Keshav Lahoti
Analyst, HDFC Securities

Got it. Okay. Thank you.

Nrupesh Shah
Managing Director of Corporate Affairs, Symphony Limited

As and when there is any major development, obviously we will come out with the necessary updates.

Keshav Lahoti
Analyst, HDFC Securities

What I am trying to understand, I will just tell you what I am trying to understand. Normally, what happens at time we want to divest, it just happened that there is no buyer, so it might take years. The question was more on that side. At least we have interest, so it is just a matter of couple of quarter, maybe two quarter, four quarter or six quarter. How are the-

Amit Kumar
Executive Director and Group CEO, Symphony Limited

Yes.

Keshav Lahoti
Analyst, HDFC Securities

...the initial signals?

Achal Bakeri
Chairman and Managing Director, Symphony Limited

Yes. Quite a few parties have signed the NDA, and we have shared our information memoranda with them. They are in the process of evaluating and hopefully taking the next steps.

Keshav Lahoti
Analyst, HDFC Securities

Got it. That is for Mexico and Australia, both you are saying?

Achal Bakeri
Chairman and Managing Director, Symphony Limited

Both.

Keshav Lahoti
Analyst, HDFC Securities

Okay. That is helpful. Thank you.

Moderator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, to ask a question, you may press star and one now. The next question is from the line of Manoj Gori from Equirus Securities. Please go ahead.

Manoj Gori
Analyst, Equirus Securities Private Limited

Yeah, thanks for the opportunity, sir. So couple of questions. One, when I look at the product mix, obviously, we did launch some of the mass segment products. So probably for the and probably in the coming quarters or for the season of next year, we should relatively see a better product mix, and probably the product mix should return back to those normalized levels, and accordingly, the gross margins also should come back to normal levels. Is that the right assumption or any insights there?

Amit Kumar
Executive Director and Group CEO, Symphony Limited

Manoj, that's an interesting question, and if I were to just delve into this slightly differently, the expanded product portfolio that we're talking about is basically from the perspective of capturing a larger share of the metal market that is slowly converting into plastics. So we are actually trying to gain a chunk of that market. So from a overall top-line perspective, this is clearly accretive. If this portfolio becomes a significant share of our total numbers, then at the GM level, maybe there is 1% or 2 point kind of impact. But at the total kind of absolute value level, this is going to be very clearly accretive. So that is the approach, that is the sort of thinking with which we are driving this added segment.

Manoj Gori
Analyst, Equirus Securities Private Limited

Overall, your revenues will be aided by this volume, so this will be over and above your normal performance. Accordingly, particularly gross margins might look a percentage or 200 basis point lower. Is that understanding correct?

Amit Kumar
Executive Director and Group CEO, Symphony Limited

That's a possibility. Again, the top of the funnel, for example even at the top, if you note some of our recent launches, products like Silenzo, they are at a super premium level. Those are categories that we are trying to build. Depending upon how the balance works out, once the full season is over, we'll have a better picture. As of now, we are holding our sort of horses on this. We'll have to just see which way the balance sort of turns up finally.

Nrupesh Shah
Managing Director of Corporate Affairs, Symphony Limited

Manoj, EBITDA margin percentage is ultimately not merely the function of this. It is also the function of overall economies of scale and top line.

Manoj Gori
Analyst, Equirus Securities Private Limited

Right.

Nrupesh Shah
Managing Director of Corporate Affairs, Symphony Limited

Even though something here and there happens at gross margin percentage, positively or negatively.

Manoj Gori
Analyst, Equirus Securities Private Limited

Yeah. Secondly, my question was on the channel inventory side. Obviously, in the past also we have seen summers being bad. Probably this year it was an outlier year and probably one of the rare summers that this industry would have seen. As compared to historical years that the channel used to carry inventories into 2Q and 3Q in terms of the overall channel level, are the inventories even higher than those levels in the previous? This year, it was a bad year. Previously also we have seen those worst years. So whether the inventory levels with the channel are still higher than that?

Amit Kumar
Executive Director and Group CEO, Symphony Limited

Manoj, at an absolute level, the inventory levels might be closer to what we had, let's say, at the same time last year, or maybe slightly here or there. One aspect is because the summer this year was not as great in terms of the morale of the channel. For the first few months, it was a distraction, which is what we are addressing now. Hopefully by end of the current quarter, both the mindset and the numbers will settle closer to their historical kind of means.

Manoj Gori
Analyst, Equirus Securities Private Limited

Right. Probably by Q3, channel inventory should be normalized. Though there will be some impact on the fact demands. Once the summer onsets for CY 2026, we might see channel probably getting that positive booster to go aggressive on primary purchases. Is that right?

Amit Kumar
Executive Director and Group CEO, Symphony Limited

That would be a reasonable way to frame it.

Manoj Gori
Analyst, Equirus Securities Private Limited

Right. Lastly, we have seen into other cooling products, I think it's also number of support schemes being offered by brands across. Any schemes that we have offered to our channel partners? If yes, by when should we expect that these schemes will continue? That's the last question.

Amit Kumar
Executive Director and Group CEO, Symphony Limited

Manoj, different years we come up with different schemes. Obviously this year also we have offered schemes which are in line with the challenges that the channel is facing. Every year the structure of the schemes is different, and we offer schemes both for distributors and dealers. The schemes for this year also have been designed keeping the current year's specific challenges in mind. A good chunk of our schemes are already out in the market, and we anticipate that now after the festive season is over and overall channel mindset is on the upswing, these schemes will also start adding to the overall traction in the market.

Manoj Gori
Analyst, Equirus Securities Private Limited

Sure. Thank you, Amit team, and wish entire Symphony all the best for the coming quarters.

Amit Kumar
Executive Director and Group CEO, Symphony Limited

Thanks a lot, sir.

Moderator

Thank you. Participants who wishes to ask a question may press star and one now. The next question is from the line of Siddhant from Goodwill. Please go ahead.

Siddhant Dand
Analyst, Goodwill

Yeah, hi. I just had one question. What is the channel saying about customer feedback on the AC GST cut? Because now the delta between a cooler and an AC has come down. Right. So will there be margin pressure over there?

Amit Kumar
Executive Director and Group CEO, Symphony Limited

So that is an interesting question, Siddhant. There is always a point where there is channel pressure on pricing with using one route or the other. That is something we have to live with and we handle. But I would not say that is a material impact in our case. Those points come and they are part of the discussions we handle on a day-to-day basis in any case.

Siddhant Dand
Analyst, Goodwill

The gap is still very wide.

Amit Kumar
Executive Director and Group CEO, Symphony Limited

Yes. The overall pricing gap is still pretty wide between, let us say, an average air cooler that we sell and an average AC that is there in the market.

Siddhant Dand
Analyst, Goodwill

Okay, perfect. Thank you.

Amit Kumar
Executive Director and Group CEO, Symphony Limited

Thank you, sir.

Moderator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Keshav Lahoti from HDFC Securities. Please go ahead.

Keshav Lahoti
Analyst, HDFC Securities

Just a follow-up. As I can see your total top line has declined by more than 40%. If 25%, 1/4 of your portfolio have grown, so possibly the 3/4 portfolio definitely have to decline by more than 50% to derive at such a sharp decline. So am I seeing in the right way?

Nrupesh Shah
Managing Director of Corporate Affairs, Symphony Limited

So of course there is a sharp decline, but it is lower than 50% during the quarter. And if we talk about first six months, it is even lower than that.

Keshav Lahoti
Analyst, HDFC Securities

Okay.

Nrupesh Shah
Managing Director of Corporate Affairs, Symphony Limited

But there is a sharp decline. Although it is more or less in line with the decline of the overall industry, the cooling industry. Of course, the air conditioner industry and the fan industries have declined, but not as sharply as the cooling industry. But our decline is more or less in line with our peers and the overall industry. And in the past, when there was subdued summer like this, I think this has always happened, so this is not new to us.

Keshav Lahoti
Analyst, HDFC Securities

Understood. Got it. So is it possible to attribute how much would be this decline because of channel inventory, and how much would be because of weak demand?

Nrupesh Shah
Managing Director of Corporate Affairs, Symphony Limited

It is all because of weak demand. Meaning, weak summer. Only because of summer.

Achal Bakeri
Chairman and Managing Director, Symphony Limited

Nothing because of demand. The demand is because of the summer, the inventory is also because of the summer. That is all.

Keshav Lahoti
Analyst, HDFC Securities

Yes.

Achal Bakeri
Chairman and Managing Director, Symphony Limited

The sentiment is also because of the summer. One good month, and this entire sentiment and inventory, everything can change. One good month, not even a one good summer.

Keshav Lahoti
Analyst, HDFC Securities

Right. We have seen that. So at this time, possibly your market share is stable on organized side, but unorganized would have gained market share. Is that a fair reading?

Achal Bakeri
Chairman and Managing Director, Symphony Limited

No. See, unorganized is being considered in the overall gain. They were always there, and they were always disproportionately large. They were always much greater than the organized sector, and that continues to be so. Now suddenly, if you include them as organized, and if you consider them as organized, then everybody's market share is down. The total organized sector's market share would shrink because you are expanding the denominator.

Keshav Lahoti
Analyst, HDFC Securities

Got it. But what I am trying to understand, whatever the decline the company have reported 40, 50 percentile, whether the unorganized have also declined by a similar number or whether their decline would be lower than this?

Achal Bakeri
Chairman and Managing Director, Symphony Limited

We have no idea specifically about the unorganized sector. We know overall for the industry, we know overall for our peers.

Keshav Lahoti
Analyst, HDFC Securities

Got it.

Achal Bakeri
Chairman and Managing Director, Symphony Limited

The unorganized sector, by definition, is unorganized. It doesn't have any data. Unorganized sector, by definition, is not available.

Keshav Lahoti
Analyst, HDFC Securities

Right. Okay. Thank you, sir. That's it.

Achal Bakeri
Chairman and Managing Director, Symphony Limited

Yeah.

Moderator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Vinay Nadkarni from Hathway Investment Private Limited. Please go ahead.

Vinay Nadkarni
Analyst, Hathway Investment Private Limited

Yeah. Just one understanding. Can you quantify what is the inventory in INR terms that we are holding, and how was it compared to last year, same time?

Nrupesh Shah
Managing Director of Corporate Affairs, Symphony Limited

We have not held much inventory because our business model is like this. If you are referring that, at a company level, inventory is by and large in line with previous year.

Vinay Nadkarni
Analyst, Hathway Investment Private Limited

But in the channel?

Nrupesh Shah
Managing Director of Corporate Affairs, Symphony Limited

No, channel, we already answered in different way, but just to repeat it. As there was a hangover of subdued summer and hence carry forward of inventory. As on 30th September , 2025, the channel inventory was by and large in line with something here and there as on 30th September , 2024 because whatever was the carry forward of inventory to that extent, sales decline happened in September quarter.

Vinay Nadkarni
Analyst, Hathway Investment Private Limited

Okay. The reason I am asking this is, last year same quarter, we had said that we are pushing ahead with record inventory into the market. So I was just wondering whether a record inventory into the market and because the channel had completely cleaned up because of brilliant summer last year. So that inventory and a bad summer, is it something that is impacting your working capital position today?

Achal Bakeri
Chairman and Managing Director, Symphony Limited

No, not at all. We manufactured last year. We weren't really carrying much inventory. We manufactured last year. If you are talking about 2024. We manufactured to sell in those off-season months. So there was no significant inventory carried, abnormal inventory carried forward from the summer.

Nrupesh Shah
Managing Director of Corporate Affairs, Symphony Limited

You are referring to working capital pressure. Are you referring at a company level?

Vinay Nadkarni
Analyst, Hathway Investment Private Limited

Yeah, because see, while your trade, you do a primary billing, but for the large format store, I think you do sales for return, right? That's why I am asking.

Nrupesh Shah
Managing Director of Corporate Affairs, Symphony Limited

So in that respect, there is zero impact on the company. In fact, you might have joined late. In our corporate presentation, we saw we are sitting on a treasury that is surplus funds at INR 577 crore, which was about INR 630 crore or INR 640 crore as on 30th September 2025. Rather than explaining anything, that itself is self-explanatory. INR 577 crore versus INR 685 crore, that is the surplus treasury. We are sitting on it. As far as modern trade is concerned, no sales happens in September quarter, so there is no question of any outstanding receivables. During off-season, whatever we sell, it is to general trade. With general trade, our trade terms are very clear since many decades, and it is with 100% advance, including this quarter. Hence we have also shown that capital employed in the core business in first half is just INR 16 crore.

Achal Bakeri
Chairman and Managing Director, Symphony Limited

I think you can see that on the screen.

Vinay Nadkarni
Analyst, Hathway Investment Private Limited

Yes.

Achal Bakeri
Chairman and Managing Director, Symphony Limited

Yeah.

Vinay Nadkarni
Analyst, Hathway Investment Private Limited

Yes, I can see that. Thank you very much.

Moderator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Siddhant from Goodwill. Please go ahead.

Siddhant Dand
Analyst, Goodwill

Yeah. Last year when we had a strong summer, we missed out on some sales because it was one of a kind summer. This year, and going forward, are we better prepared to ramp up production in case such a season comes up? What have we done for that?

Amit Kumar
Executive Director and Group CEO, Symphony Limited

Absolutely, Siddhant, that is something that we have very clearly worked on and prepared for. At the back end, building that kind of scalability and operational agility is something that we are fully geared for.

Siddhant Dand
Analyst, Goodwill

Okay, perfect. Thank you.

Amit Kumar
Executive Director and Group CEO, Symphony Limited

Thank you.

Moderator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mahesh from HDFC Securities. Please go ahead.

Speaker 10

Hello, am I audible?

Amit Kumar
Executive Director and Group CEO, Symphony Limited

You are, yes.

Speaker 10

Yes, sir. I just want to know what the current demand scenario in October.

Amit Kumar
Executive Director and Group CEO, Symphony Limited

I am sorry, Mahesh, we could not get your question.

Speaker 10

What is current demand scenario? Is there any improvement in demand?

Amit Kumar
Executive Director and Group CEO, Symphony Limited

See, Mahesh, for the core category that we operate in at this point in time, there is hardly much consumer demand. Most of this is basically advanced planning jointly with our channel partners and chasing materials as primary sales from our side. But the consumer demand will only be clearer or will only start sort of coming into the market mostly from January, February out there.

Nrupesh Shah
Managing Director of Corporate Affairs, Symphony Limited

However, if we can consider until GST rate cut, even at a channel level, across channel, across consumer durable, there was a high inventory. Because of GST cut and good festive demand, by and large, trade channel has done decently well, and many trade partners were actually having cash flow issue. But that is substantially rationalized, and we expect that should translate into better sentiments and demand, at least from trade partner in a current and ensuing quarter. In response to that, we have also launched some schemes in the current quarter, so as not to miss out that opportunity.

Speaker 10

October also witnessed double-digit decline?

Nrupesh Shah
Managing Director of Corporate Affairs, Symphony Limited

No. Month-to-month, we actually don't track the data. It is more about the quarterly that too for analyst purpose. Otherwise, for a company, what matters is the annual performance.

Speaker 10

Okay. And sir, what was our channel mix in Q2?

Nrupesh Shah
Managing Director of Corporate Affairs, Symphony Limited

It is mainly general trade and partly D2C.

Speaker 10

Okay. And sir, one question on channel inventory. Does the H2 inventory was higher in comparison to year-on-year? Is my understanding correct?

Amit Kumar
Executive Director and Group CEO, Symphony Limited

No, we answered that.

Nrupesh Shah
Managing Director of Corporate Affairs, Symphony Limited

Several times.

Amit Kumar
Executive Director and Group CEO, Symphony Limited

Including giving the comparison of September 2025 versus September 2024. Even at the cost of repetition, as on September 2025, overall channel inventory as per the data available with us is almost in line with as on 30th September 2024, something here and there. The reason being, whatever was decline in September 2025 quarter sales, that has automatically adjusted in channel inventory. In other words, by and large, at this point of time, traditionally or historically, what channel carries forward the inventory is around the same.

Speaker 10

Okay, sir. Thank you.

Moderator

Thank you. As there are no further questions from the participants, I now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.

Achal Bakeri
Chairman and Managing Director, Symphony Limited

Thank you very much everybody for your participation and your interest in our company, and we look forward to having you back with us in three months. Thank you. Bye-bye. Have a pleasant afternoon.

Nrupesh Shah
Managing Director of Corporate Affairs, Symphony Limited

Also thanks to Equirus for hosting this conference call. Thank you.

Moderator

Thank you. On behalf of Equirus Securities Private Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us and you may now disconnect your lines.