Knowledge Marine up 5.4% on Q1 PAT surge, Rs 1,300cr order book and capex plans

On paper, Thursday’s disclosure was simply the formal upload of the August 26, 2026 earnings call transcript under Regulation 30. But the document gives investors a consolidated view of three things that help explain why KMEW shares continued to rerate:

• Management reiterated the 466% year-on-year jump in Q1 FY27 profit after tax to INR 62.75 crore on revenue from operations of INR 115.41 crore, which was up 138% year-on-year (page 2).
• The call detailed how this profitability is being driven by high-value dredging work and long-tenure charter contracts, not just one-off items.
• It also laid out a clearer roadmap: a more than INR 1,300 crore order book, a bid pipeline of approximately INR 3,500-plus crore, and a capex plan of about INR 1,000 crore over the next 1.5 years (pages 4–9).

With the bulk of the day’s price move coming after the transcript hit the exchanges, the reaction appears tied less to the act of disclosure and more to the visibility and confidence that the detailed commentary provides around the earlier Q1 numbers.

On the call, Director and CFO Kanak Kewalramani highlighted that Q1 FY27 showcased the operating leverage in KMEW’s model when “specialized assets, technical capability and disciplined project execution intersect” (page 2).

Key Q1 FY27 consolidated numbers discussed (page 2):

• Revenue from operations: INR 115.41 crore, up 138% year-on-year
• EBITDA: INR 73.41 crore, up 258% year-on-year, with an EBITDA margin of “approx. 64%”
• Profit after tax: INR 62.75 crore, up 466% year-on-year, with a PAT margin of “approximately 54%”

Management explicitly linked this performance to the dredging segment (page 3):

• The “main hero” of revenue was dredging.
• Two key projects drove the quarter: a capital rock dredging project at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) and a maintenance dredging project at Pondicherry Port.
• The technically complex JNPA assignment, executed with self-propelled backhoe dredger River Pearl 47, and the Pondicherry job using trailing suction hopper dredger River Pearl 18, were cited as major contributors.

Crucially for the market, CEO Sujay Kewalramani addressed how sustainable these margins are. He reiterated that the company has historically guided for EBITDA margins of 35% to 40% and PAT margins of 25% to 30%, and cautioned that the Q1 PAT margin of around 48% (averaged with Q4 FY26) is not the new guidance (page 8). However, he did say that as dredging volumes scale, “the operating margin numbers are going to expand” (page 7).

That combination — very high reported margins today, but guidance that still sits well above typical infrastructure businesses — is a key part of why the stock continues to attract interest.

Investors also appear to be reacting to the visibility KMEW provided on future work.

On page 4, Kanak Kewalramani outlined a balance order book of more than INR 1,300 crore, broken up as:

• INR 240 crore in dredging
• INR 850 crore in charter and hire
• INR 240 crore in shipbuilding

This spans 8 dredging contracts, 15 charter and hire contracts and 4 shipbuilding contracts, excluding an intercompany order book of INR 200 crore placed by Knowledge Marine with its shipyard subsidiary for Green Tugs and patrol boats.

The company also disclosed a current bid pipeline of approximately INR 3,500-plus crore, with (page 4):

• Dredging: INR 1,200-plus crore
• Charter and hire: INR 1,100-plus crore
• Shipbuilding: INR 1,400-plus crore

On the call, management said it has historically achieved a bid “hit rate in excess of 50%” over the last 11 years (page 9), though they stopped short of promising that this will continue.

For FY27 specifically, Sujay Kewalramani noted that initial growth guidance of 30% to 40% year-on-year has been upgraded, saying “there is a potential in northwards of 60% for the current year now” (page 6). He also indicated that out of the INR 240 crore dredging order book, about INR 200 crore is expected to be executed in FY27 (page 6).

Such explicit growth commentary, layered on top of the strong Q1 print, helps explain why the stock has continued to move higher as more investors work through the transcript.

Another driver of interest is the company’s plan to transform from a niche dredging and chartering player into an integrated maritime platform with its own shipyard.

Key disclosures from the call:

• KMEW is “currently… undergoing a capex of close to INR 1,000 crore, which will be between now and within the next 1.5 years” (page 8).
• Of this, about INR 250 crore is earmarked for Green Tugs and green vessels, INR 450 crore for dredging, and the balance for the shipyard and shipbuilding business (page 9).
• The new Saphale shipyard is expected to deliver 14 vessels under Phase I, eventually scaling to 18 vessels per annum once all phases are complete (page 11).
• The company has already secured a shipbuilding contract from the Inland Waterways Authority of India for 10 hybrid electric passenger ferries valued at INR 62.40 crore, with an execution tenure of about 10 months (page 4). These will be built at Saphale.

On the longer-term revenue trajectory, Sujay Kewalramani reiterated a targeted top line of INR 1,000 crore in FY29 (page 7). By then, the revenue mix is expected to be (pages 10 and 12):

• Dredging: 45% to 50%
• Shipbuilding: 40% to 45%
• Chartering: about 5%

He also said KMEW is “fully capitalized to achieve our turnover of a top line of INR 1,000 crores, which is in the near future” (page 7), helped by an INR 150 crore preferential issue to investors including 360 ONE PIPE Fund, FLC Investco LLC and Bank of India Mutual Fund, and a INR 100 crore secondary block deal with SBI Funds Management (page 5).

For shipbuilding margins, management argued that while pre-subsidy margins are 15% to 20%, post-subsidy they “will easily go beyond 35%” (page 10), which, if achieved, would help preserve the group’s blended margin profile even as shipbuilding’s share rises.

The transcript does not provide quarter-on-quarter comparisons, detailed segmental margins, or a breakdown between standalone and consolidated numbers for Q1 FY27; those are in the financial results, not in this document. It also does not quantify return ratios, debt levels, or cash flows, and it does not offer explicit EPS guidance.

Similarly, while management discussed opportunities such as the Government of India’s Harit Nauka mission and the Samudra Manthan initiative (pages 4 and 13), the filing does not attach revenue or profit estimates to these themes.

The latest move in KMEW’s stock appears less about a new surprise and more about the market continuing to price in what the Q1 FY27 call transcript makes clear: a business currently delivering high profitability from complex dredging work, backed by a more than INR 1,300 crore order book, a INR 3,500-plus crore bid pipeline, and a funded capex plan aimed at scaling revenue to INR 1,000 crore by FY29.

As always, these are management’s stated plans and targets; the transcript does not guarantee outcomes, and the share-price reaction likely also reflects broader expectations and valuation, which the filing itself does not address.