TCI Express Limited (NSE: TCIEXP) Q3 2026 Earnings Call dated Feb. 03, 2026
Corporate Participants:
Unidentified Speaker
Chander Agarwal — Managing Director
Mukti Lal — Executive Director & Chief Financial Officer
Analysts:
Unidentified Participant
Ravi Naredi — Analyst
Presentation:
operator
Ladies and Gentlemen, Good day and welcome to the DCI Express Q3FY26 earnings conference call hosted by Philip Capital India Pvt Ltd. This conference call may contain forward looking statements about the company which are based on the beliefs, opinions and expectations of the company as on date of this call. These statements are not the guarantees of future performance and involve risks and and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. As a reminder, all participants lines will be 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 attached in phone.
Please note that this conference call is recorded. I would now hand the conference over to Mr. Vikram Balas Suryavanshi from Philip Capital. Thank you. And over to you sir.
Unidentified Speaker
Thank you. Muskan. Good evening and very warm welcome to everyone. Thank you for being on the call of TCI Express. We are happy to have the management with us here today for question and answer session with the investment community. The management is represented by Mr. Chandra Agarwal, Managing Director, Mr. Prabitranda, Chief Business Officer and Mukti Lal, Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer. Before we start with the call we will have opening comments from the management. I will hand over the call to Mr. Chandra Agarwal for opening comments over to you sir.
Chander Agarwal — Managing Director
Thank you. I hope I’m audible loud and clear.
operator
Yes sir.
Chander Agarwal — Managing Director
Good evening everyone and welcome to the Q3 and 9 months financial year 26 earnings conference call of TCI Express Limited. Thank you for joining us today. I hope you and your families are doing well. Our earnings presentation for the quarter has already been shared on the company’s website and with the stock exchanges and I trust you’ve had the opportunity to review it. I will begin by sharing an overview of our operational performance and business progress during the quarter and nine months ended December financial year 26. Following this, our executive director and CFO Mr. Mukti will take you through the financial performance in detail.
During the third quarter, the operating environment reflected a mixed trend across sectors. While certain industrial and export segments showed moderation, domestic consumption and festival led demand supported freight movement. Against this, TCI Express delivered a stable performance supported by disciplined execution, network expansion and steady traction across multiple business verticals. On an overall basis, the company reported 6% year over year growth for the quarter. Furthermore, as part of our ongoing commitment to shareholder value, we are pleased to announce an interim dividend of rupees seven per share representing a payout of 350% on the face value surface Express continue to remain the largest contributor to overall volumes during the quarter, Surface Express resumed growth following a period of subdued performance.
Performance was supported by customer additions, higher wallet share from existing enterprise accounts and increased movement across sectors as automotive, defense, solar and electric vehicles business from MSME and pharmaceutical customers also improved during the period. Furthermore, during the quarter we saw an increase in business from key account management customers reflecting deeper engagement and improved solution alignment. Customer acquisition remains strong with registered customer additions more than doubling on a year on year basis supported by focused sales efforts and high field engagement. To Strengthen network reach, five new branches were added in QC Financial 26 in addition, customer contract renewals are currently underway with revised pricing being implemented earlier than the usual cycle supporting yield improvement going forward.
During the quarter, the Rail express segment delivered 24% year on year growth aided by higher pharma volumes and technology led improvements in compliance and shipment visibility. The Air Express business also reported steady progress with Domestic Air express going about 14% year on year on the back of customer additions, improved delivery performance and stronger regional connectivity, while International Air express recorded nearly 28% growth driven by higher trade lane activity, customer wins and express and progress in cargo consolidation and global partnerships. The C2C Express segment scaled further with 32% year on year growth supported by wider manpower coverage and new customer acquisitions.
The E Commerce Express business continued to gain traction delivering strong growth with consistent volumes across the quarter, stable profitability and continued progress on B2C expansion, leadership strengthening and technology integration to support future scale from a people and process perspective. Focus efforts are being taken towards organized business growth and culture transformation across business associates and logistics staff. As frontline representatives of the company, these teams play a critical role in customer interaction, service quality and operational outcomes. Structured training and engagement initiatives are expected to improve execution, consistency and support long term growth during the period. The company has been certified under ISO certifications for ISO 9001 2015, ISO 140012015 and ISO 45001 2018.
These certifications reflect our continued focus on quality, environmental responsibility and workplace safety. We are also pleased to share that TCI Express has been certified as a great place to work for six consecutive years and recognize as India’s most preferred brand for 2526. These recognitions reinforce our focus on people, governance and long term value creation. Our corporate social responsibility initiatives continued during the quarter. Our Health Checkup Camp was organized for employees at the corporate office in collaboration with Medant Hospital supporting preventive healthcare and employee well being. The TCI Express Foundation’s Jaipur Foot and Rehab center in and in Lucknow supported 144 beneficiaries during the quarter by providing artificial limbs and assistive devices contributing to mobility and long term rehab outcomes.
Looking ahead, the Company remains focused on strengthening its core surface network, expanding multimodal capabilities and deepening engagement across key customer segments. Continued investments in technology, network optimization and people development remains central to our Strategy. Furthermore, during nine month financial year 26 the company added more than 300 employees to align manpower with network expansion and service requirements. With a strong balance sheet asset light model and disciplined execution, TCI Express is well positioned to navigate near term demand variability and pursue sustainable growth in the quarters ahead with this. Now I’d like to hand over the call to Mr.
Mukthy to take you through the financial performance of the quarter and nine months ended financial 26. Thank you.
Mukti Lal — Executive Director & Chief Financial Officer
Yeah thank you sir and good evening everyone. I will now take you through the financial performance of TCI Express for the third quarter and nine month end date FY26. As our managing Director has already been covered the business environment, service initiatives and operational progress, I will mainly focus on the financial highlights for the third quarter of this 26. Income from operation was 314 crore compared to rupees 296 crore in quarter three in last year same quarter reflecting a year on year growth of 6% on sequential basis we also increased revenue by 2% and total income for the quarter was 317 crore.
For FY26. EBITDA for the quarter was 37 crore compared to rupees 33 crore in the same quarter of last year. EBITDA margin for quarter three FY26 is 11.6%. Profit after tax for the quarter is rupees 23 crore with a margin of 7.2%. For the nine month period. Income from operation is 909 crore and compared to rupees nine hundred and one crore in cross bonding period last year. By registering 1% growth in this nine month period, total income for the period is 2 lakhs rupees 919 crore. EBITDA for nine months is rupees 109 crore with a margin of 11.9% while profit after tax stood at 69 crore with a margin of 7.5%.
The nine month performance reflects stable operating execution despite demand variability across quarters. From a return and efficiency perspective, return on Capital employed for nine months stood at 19.6%. Current ratio remained healthy at 3.38 times highlighting strong liquidity and balance sheet flexibility. Working capital management remained again stable during this quarter. Receivable days as maintained at 60 days, payable days at 39 days resulting in net working capital cycle of 21 days. The increase in working capital days compared to the previous quarter is largely linked to the festive season volumes and timing of collections and remains well within the manageable levels.
Further we will be try to reduce in time to come in by next quarter. The company continued to operate with a debt free balance sheet. The net cash position remains strong at the 146crore rupees supporting ongoing investment and operational requirements and cash flow from operation for the nine month FY26 was rupees 29 crore. During the same period the company incurred capital expenditure of rupees 45 crore primarily towards branch expansion, shorting center infrastructure and IT upgrades. Free cash flow for the nine month period stood at 15 crore. Additionally, the company revised its projected capex to 400 crore from the earlier plan of 500 crore in five year tenure which will be finished in FY27.
So we will be revised to from 500 crore to 400 crore. So remaining period we will be done almost like one hundred and fifty crore crore rupees in one and a half year time. From a service performance perspective, Surface Express remained the largest contributor to revenue While rail, air, C2C and E commerce segments supported overall growth during the quarter. As mentioned earlier, investments across multiple services and technology platform aimed at improving operating leverage over the medium term. To summarize, the third quarter and nine month performance reflects steady revenue growth, disciplined cost control, stable margins and a strong balance sheet.
Our priorities remain focused on prudent capital allocation, maintain liquidity and strengthen cash flows. With this I conclude my remarks. We can now open for the floor for the question answer. Thank you very much.
Questions and Answers:
operator
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask question may press star and one on the touchdown telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from question queue, you may press star in two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Kanish Jain from Western Research. Please go ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Hello. Hi. Thank you for the opportunity and Congressman decided. Am I audible?
Chander Agarwal
Yes, you are audible.
Unidentified Participant
Sir, I have few questions. The first one is on the SME side. Given the current headwinds faced by the assembly, could you help us understand how sticky our SME clients are to the Express express group model versus shifting to 3 ppl or other affordable models also? So far have we seen any SME Client move away from us.
Chander Agarwal
Sorry, what I understand your voice is not clear. So you talking about SMEs again. They searching the headwinds and how like they’re performing and how they like giving the business to us, right?
Unidentified Participant
Yes sir. And also that since they are facing headwinds. So is there any probability that they will shift from express model to affordable models like CPL or other models?
Chander Agarwal
No. So SME. Yeah. SMEs not hit much what kind of SMEs we are dealing with that they are like prudent one and then fully compliant and they have the like full supply chain and you know businesses across India and we helping them to deliver everywhere. So our ratio is maintained with them and we getting the business from them regularly. And currently ratio with them is around 49% and we will be keep continue. And again you seen in a like in a recent budget. Government is also highly focused on to help to these SMEs and they also marking some fund to be get the direct purchases from the SME customers and all.
So government is also worrisome about you know their existence in the system continuously. And that’s why we also like focus our company since inception is focusing on SME customers. So will be keep continue there. And really they are not like moving from express industry to other model. They have to be keep continue with the express because this is the models giving the guarantee to deliver on time and you know with damage free and all. But this way is nothing to be worrisome and is you know very well going on.
Unidentified Participant
Okay. And so far none of our assembly client has left us.
Chander Agarwal
No, no, not at all. Not at all.
Unidentified Participant
Okay. My another I just wanted to have understanding that do we about the backend infrastructure. If we were able to win a. Contract and significantly increase the capacity utilization, would our existing backend infra be able to absorb and service this incremental volume or require further expansion or feedback?
Chander Agarwal
Can you come again? Your voice is not clear. Actually you know somehow is like.
Unidentified Participant
Okay, so you just wanted to have an understanding about the backend infrastructure. If we were able to win a contract that significantly increases capacity utilization, would our existing backend infra be able to absorb and service its implemental volume or would it require further expansion of feedback?
Chander Agarwal
Yeah, so basically you need, you know you need two three C on a three aspect one is like we had the infrastructure, you know existing infrastructure for the surface and other services like air and rail and C2C. So we creating an additional infrastructure to giving excellent services to customers. So we creating infrastructure for rail service independently we’re creating an infrastructure for air, domestic and international also separately. And we as our MD has mentioned we hiring new people for the sales and operation both. So we are future ready for wherever we like win the any contract.
We can be like you know get that almost like once we will be get like 30, 40% revenue growth in an existing infrastructure is okay, we will be do that. But infrastructure is also like in a two way. One is my fleet and another one is our you know, shorting centers and branch network. So shorting center in branch is fine. But you know fleet will be added wherever is required because it’s a variable component. In existing fleet we have utilization level is around 83% plus. So this way it can be increased to 2, 3% in existing one.
But whenever we added the like new customer on a very particular line then we have to be add the additional capacity accordingly. Or like we shift the capacity from low capacity to higher capacity in existing truck. So like again right, supposing we utilizing 16, 17 ton truck then we can be moved to 25 ton truck. Or supposing 9 ton then we can be moved to 18 ton. So this way is happening and it’s very dynamic one. So that is not a challenge. Wherever we will be grow faster then we are ready with that.
Unidentified Participant
Okay. And lastly, I wanted to understand the company’s priority between improving capacity and top line versus improving margin. For instance, if an institutional client order volume that can significantly increase utilization and top line but at the cost of lower realization. Would the company accept the trade off? Or would we prefer to let the order go and continue focusing on SME clients which offer higher margin but lower utilization.
Chander Agarwal
Our approach is always to get the profitable business continuously. So we will be keep a balance and we maintain that balance since last more than two decades where we’re getting business in 50 50% from SME and 50 from the bigger customers. So that tendency and that region we will be going ahead also with the even newer Services Rail and C2C we will be give that way. So we will be keep continue with that. Because again SME customer giving the good prices and low volume obviously and bigger customer giving the volumes and slightly low prices. So we have to be keep both and keep continue with that method actually.
Unidentified Participant
But if you look at institutional clients where the value from them are more. Sustainable more if we try and try. On a like if you look at operating leverage, if you focus on that then you we will also be able to achieve margin from them. Right?
Chander Agarwal
So you’re talking about SME.
Unidentified Participant
No, I’M talking about institutional client.
Chander Agarwal
No, so institutional client. Yeah. So it is always better to have the SME and both together. Actually we can’t be. That’s why if you see my customer concentration is not so high with the one or two customer as we mentioned time to time. My top 25 customer is not giving more than 15% revenue to us. So this way we have very low concentration on a particular customer. So we are not depending upon that because always big customer or institutional client is always excusing margins and squeezing the prices. And you know, so they like sometime very highly fragmented to be moved to other service player if they offering something some reduced prices and all.
But you know, is a in express industry. Fortunately this is a very good thing where they don’t compromise on a service level. And usually they not moving much on due to price reduction and all. So that’s why you seen like, you know, realization per unit is not decreasing in this industry in spite of high competition and all. So this way is not like impacting that way. And it is good to have SME and institutional client both in this. This way.
Unidentified Participant
No, I just wanted to have understanding of what is the company’s priority. Is it top line or is it maintaining margin?
Chander Agarwal
No, no, both. You should take another.
operator
Next question. Mukti.
Mukti Lal
Yeah, please. Either we have the both. You know, Anish, we have the both priorities. We have to be growth with the profitable only. We will not the do the growth for the only revenue. You know, top up that one.
Unidentified Participant
Okay, sir. Thank you. Thank you so much.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ravi Kumar Naridi from Naridi Investments. Please go ahead.
Ravi Naredi
Thank you. To give me this opportunity. Sir. Yeah. Our competitor 1 number here since it is delivery. How they damage our earning service last three years by incurring losses. So what you expect next one year.
Chander Agarwal
So you know, we don’t want to be comment on particular competition. But you see in their results also. So every competition have their own space and own like field. But we are very clear on our sense. We will be keep the revenue growth with the profitability only. And this market is very big because our ultimate focus because we were in a slightly subdued, you know, revenue growth in last five, six quarter. Because our focus and our dependence was on only one particular segment, only surface that was the biggest one. But now we face this thing and then we started the newer services also.
And then you seen the results in this quarter. Every other services has been increased phenomenally, you know very well. So this will be like, you know, it Means it’s not that we will be like less focusing on our surface. This is like biggest one. So we will be keep growing simultaneously. But these newer service slightly higher and obviously surface will be in the more than double. You know more than double digit growth in time to come. So we not seeing any competition can like harm for particularly can we get the business on lower prices. And all this is not the case actually because in this industry people are not behind the rates.
Rather they want on a good serviceage.
Ravi Naredi
Because I am shareholder since last six years and went to see your daily sorting center too. But regents are not up to mark and but you are doing hard work. That is the thing. Sir Air Express you say growth comes 24% earlier say before four years. You are not sure for air cargo due to airport and airline handling problem. But now you are working saying different story. Is it so?
Chander Agarwal
Sir, can you repeat the question please?
Ravi Naredi
Sir air Express grow 24% earlier say before four years. You are not sure for air cargo due to airport and airline handling problem. But now you are working saying different story. Is it so?
Chander Agarwal
Well, you have to also see that. The business environment evolves. It changes. It cannot be static. So if the air cargo business was slow before COVID After Covid it took off and it’s starting to now slow down again. But we have enough now base. We have developed a very strong base where even with the lower volume growth we will still be able to show growth. So I think it’s all fundamental to how the company can change itself from you know the environment it is. It is doing business in at the moment. So I don’t think that yeah we are affected. You know we have to go as for how the market changes.
Ravi Naredi
Right. And what is your commentary for financial year 27.
Chander Agarwal
Mukti
Mukti Lal
yeah, 27. So we are looking for 15% plus kind of volume growth and with the 2% price hike so 17, 17, 18% kind of, you know revenue growth. We’re looking for and accordingly profit margin like PAT level we will be increase in the range of 20% plus because you know we like in a in a phase of expanding our team and creating a separate capabilities for each services like for rail, for C2C for air and international. So we creating that when we refocusing you know back to on B2C segments also again not like targeting big giants company but again a small small, you know B2C players for the delivery of.
And also we also focusing on D2C which is also increasing on in this market. So we’re looking for kind of 15% growth in FY27.
Ravi Naredi
Okay, thank you. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Dhruvin from SKP securities. Please go ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Hello sir. I just have three, four very small questions to ask. First from a product mix point of view how do we expect our product mix to be in the next two years? Like if I have to, if you have to give me a breakup between Surface Express, your International Air, Domestic Air and E Commerce. Like how would you split your revenues in terms of percentages?
Chander Agarwal
Yeah. So overall like in this quarter and I think FY26 end nothing will be changed much. So we will be finishing around 18 and a half to 19% in other services and 81% is surface. And of that we had in this 19% chunk we including rail, air, domestic and international C2C and E commerce part. So this is the part of that and in this because these are the again few are the very small and we just launch a launch in two three years back. So biggest chunk is C2C and then followed by Air and then rail and then E commerce C2C.
Unidentified Participant
So E commerce as a percentage is how big a chunk it is very low.
Chander Agarwal
Again 2 and 2 and a half percent. You know so can we select 4. And half percent then we reduce the you know chunk from the again big guys and all so reduce shrink to two and a half percent.
Unidentified Participant
And now is it the same as International Air Express? International Air is also around that range.
Chander Agarwal
Yeah, it is also around 2%. Yeah.
Unidentified Participant
All right. Okay. So second question in terms of volume and realization per ton what would be your guidance for 27 and 28 going forward?
Chander Agarwal
So in this year we are target to increase the yield by at least you know 100 basis point 1% basically. And next year we targeting 2% again next year also 2%. So by like FY28 we will be in a situation to increase my realization by 5% and that directly add to our profits.
Unidentified Participant
Okay. Okay, last couple of questions. So what was the volume growth in this particular quarter? Sorry, Volume. Volume. Just volume numbers In this quarter .
Chander Agarwal
the volume number is 2 lakh 55,000 metric ton. In this quarter we achieved. Okay so and in 9 month total is around 7 lakh 37 thousand metric ton.
Unidentified Participant
Okay so last question. Your at 500 crores capex plan which was supposed to end I think till FY27. And then we in the last call we decided that we’ll push it to FY28. So by FY28 we can we assume that this 500 crore capex will be fully incurred or is there something new coming up or some postponement or something expected?
Chander Agarwal
Rightly so. Well so we will be keep like 27400 crore and then additional 100 crore by 28. So you rightly said by 28 we will be consumed this 500 crore for.
Unidentified Participant
All right, thank you so much. So that’s all from my side.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Anurag from Aquarius securities. Please go ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Yeah. Hi, good evening. Am I audible?
Chander Agarwal
Yes, Anurag.
Unidentified Participant
Yes. I’ll just. Just a capacity utilization details for the quarter would be great. Yeah. So capacity utilization in this quarter we have around 83.25% because we supposed to be higher. But you know somehow like after the Pavali there’s been a deep in volumes and then again picking up in December and also that’s why it’s happening around 83.25%. Okay. Okay. Thank you sir.
Unidentified Participant
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. The next question from the line of Khandia from Jeffries, please go ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Yeah, hi, it’s Kaundinya. Thanks for the opportunity sir. So just trying to understand what is. What is the scenario like how is the momentum on the ground in the fourth quarter. Can you put some color on how is Jan and February outlook? Like you also spoke about, you know potentially taking early price hikes. So. So what gives you that confidence to take price hikes now if you can speak a little bit about that please.
Mukti Lal
Chandra sir, you want to comment on that?
Chander Agarwal
You can go ahead Mukti.
Mukti Lal
Yeah. So basically Koninya, basically you know this environment has improved a lot in the sense of freight movement, in the sense of volume growth for the express industries. And you have seen the others competition number also everyone is increasing. So third thing is like cost pressure is like stabilized now. But again labor cost is still is in increasing trend because government also want to be regularized that and want to be given a Social Security and all. So that is going on and is also very clear by applying labor laws implementation there. So with that and business environment now is a good news where like tariff has also reduced from 25 to 18 and this penalty tariff is also removed.
So I think overall business scenario and as you seen like economies is also growing. Special thing where government are also putting very high emphasis on SME customers. Because government knows SME is a key segment for the Indian logistics also and for the Indian growth also. Obviously Indian economy growth also. So that’s why they putting an extra fund to be grow that they also want to be created a different cluster for the manufacturing for the different. Different kind of different manufacturing. So overall like we also put into in you know new segment like we signing the contract for the ev, you know vehicle companies.
We also signed the contract with the solar. We also signing contact with the electric electronics companies also. So and we also focusing on as we expand on a new geography for the other services. So overall environment I see you know growth is also coming from the. This is a good thing. We are coming from the you know tier two, tier three cities. People have the more income in the hands to like you know consumption for that. So overall scenario looks great. And again once one segment which we really facing challenges was lifestyle and you know textile industry which is.
I think they will be also give the boost up with these kind of like tariff as removed from that. So I think hopefully that industry will be start to doing well. So scenario like January 1st was also you know getting good. PMI is also as you seen improving. So we saying we will be also synced with that and certainly all the segment I am saying, you know verticals like moving ahead. Defense segment is also like you know new companies coming up, existing companies is also producing more and all. So hopefully you know environment is very positive and interest rate is also very low as you seen.
So I think inflation is also, you know low. So customer is also intend to be like give slight hike to you know prices. So that environment has also built up. So now we are building up our capabilities and surely we’ll be achieve what we like promising for the quarter four and then subsequently and go on. Yeah. Where do you think you will.
Unidentified Participant
I mean you did speak about 15% target for FY27. In FY26 where do you think the growth will end? Because after two quarters of weakness this quarter you came back now finally at 5% growth which is like a decent number. So where do you think you will end the year at?
Chander Agarwal
I think next quarter again we will be do single high digit growth or might we like achieve.
Unidentified Participant
Sorry sir, I lost you there.
operator
Hello. Management line has been dropped. It will connect to the management.
Chander Agarwal
Sure [Ends Abruptly].