Navin Fluorine International Ltd has quietly staged one of the strongest rallies in the chemicals space this year, powered by a sharp turnaround in visibility across its core businesses—especially CDMO, which is emerging as the company’s key growth engine.
The stock of of the specialty chemicals manufacturer hit a new 52-week high of ₹6,168.50 earlier this week and is up nearly 80% in CY25 so far. The rally is fuelled by a stronger demand outlook and firm traction across all three business segments.
At a recent analyst meet, the management reiterated its target of reaching $100 million (around ₹900 crore) in contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) revenue by FY28. In Q2FY26, the segment almost doubled its year-on-year revenue to ₹134 crore, with exports contributing more than 95%.
Pipeline visibility
The CDMO business, which supplies intermediate chemicals to global CDMO firms, has a robust pipeline to support the guidance. This includes an agreement with Fermion Oy of Finland, which manufactures the API for Darolutamide, a prostate cancer drug seeing strong global demand.
“Peak revenue visibility from key commercial molecule Darolutamide, expected to achieve $4 billion in global sales for the innovator by CY29 reinforces confidence, with Navin’s intermediate supply estimated to contribute about $60 million at peak,” said analysts at PL Capital in a 20 November report.
Navin commissioned the first phase of its fourth cGMP (current good manufacturing practices) facility in September, dedicated largely to Fermion orders. The plant is under validation and aims to begin commercial supplies by January. It was recently audited by three global firms, underscoring business potential.
Considering the market demand, Navin plans to undertake phase two expansion of cGMP-4, after the plants reach a capacity utilization of 60-70%.
Beyond CDMO
Navin is also investing across other segments, including a debottlenecking project and a ₹240-crore capex for manufacturing R32. The R32 plant, expected to go live by Q3FY27, has peak revenue potential of ₹600–825 crore by FY28.
The company is scaling up production of electronic-grade hydrofluoric acid from Q4FY26, which earns better margins.
Besides CDMO, high performance products (HPP), manufacturing refrigerants, and inorganic fluorides, recorded revenue growth of 38% in Q2FY26.
Specialty chemicals, which produce intermediates for agrochemicals and other industries, grew 39%, supported by a new plant commissioned in December. While near-term visibility is strong, the segment is facing pricing pressure from increased competition.
Strong segmental performance lifted consolidated revenue by 46% to ₹760 crore, while Ebitda jumped nearly 130% to ₹246 crore, expanding margins by 12 percentage points to 32.5%. The second half is also expected to remain strong, with Bloomberg consensus forecasting an 80% jump in FY26 earnings per share (EPS).
“We believe a large part of the incremental growth is a function of order visibility (including contracts where NFIL received POs) and hence we see limited risk of earnings downside vis-à-vis peers,” noted a Centrum Institutional Research report.
The stock trades at around 40x one-year forward P/E, below its long-term average, making sustained earnings delivery critical from here.