Varmora Granito

The Ticker Tales take

Varmora Granito, set up in 2003, makes ceramic and vitrified tiles in Rajkot and sells them through 286 exclusive brand outlets and more than 2,000 multi-brand stores spread over 949 cities, alongside a builder and government supply business. It carries over 3,500 different tile designs. Worth weighing before you apply: revenue has been flat — ₹1,492.7 crore in FY25 against ₹1,472.6 crore in FY24 — while profit fell from ₹44.9 crore to ₹30.8 crore, and borrowings rose to ₹505 crore. The ₹708 crore issue is aimed largely at paying down that debt, which helps the balance sheet but does not add capacity. Demand was weak all the way into the closing-day morning before institutions piled in late, pushing the final book to 1.60 times covered (QIB 3.10×, retail 1.02×, NII 0.94×) — but the grey market premium never followed, ending the day flat at just ₹0.50, essentially level with the issue price. Our call locked at 2 PM on 24 September on the weak morning numbers: Avoid. It listed on 29 September at ₹155 on NSE, 4.7% above the issue price, and closed its first day about 2.8% up. We expected a small loss, so the Avoid call missed: the listing was better than the weak grey market suggested.