Brands
Cello World Q3 net profit dips to Rs 69 crore
Nine months PAT at Rs 201 crore on Rs 1,670 crore revenue; exceptional labour code hit Rs 7 crore.
MUMBAI: Cello World isn’t just crafting pens and houseware, it’s sketching a resilient financial picture amid some regulatory smudges. The Daman-based consumer products giant reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 69.41 crore for the quarter ended 31 December 2025, down from Rs 92.10 crore a year earlier, after a Rs 7.44 crore exceptional hit from new labour codes.
Revenue from operations held firm at Rs 553.66 crore (versus Rs 556.85 crore last year), with total income at Rs 570.26 crore. Expenses climbed to Rs 468.43 crore, driven by material costs Rs 187.18 crore, stock purchases Rs 103.15 crore, employee benefits Rs 61.78 crore, and other outlays Rs 100.76 crore. Profit before exceptional items and tax stood at Rs 101.83 crore, but after the one-off, PBT settled at Rs 94.39 crore. Tax took Rs 24.98 crore, leaving comprehensive income at Rs 69.24 crore.
Zooming out to nine months, the story sharpens: revenue from operations Rs 1,670.12 crore (up from Rs 1,547.57 crore), total income Rs 1,717.55 crore, PAT Rs 201.38 crore (down from Rs 268.41 crore after exceptional). Owners claimed Rs 222.32 crore of that, non-controlling interests Rs 19.06 crore. EPS for Q3? Rs 2.88 basic/diluted; nine months Rs 10.06.
The full-year comparison to 31 March 2025 shows last year’s revenue ops Rs 2,136.39 crore, PAT Rs 364.57 crore, owners Rs 338.82 crore, EPS Rs 15.50. No dividends mentioned this period, but paid-up equity remains Rs 110.44 crore (face Rs 5).
The results encompass a web of subsidiaries, Cello Household Products, Houseware, Industries, Consumerware, Unomax Stationery, Writing Instruments, Sales and Marketing, Wim Plast, Wim Plast Moulding, Cello Consumer Products, plus fresh additions like Arko Glass (from 20 January 2025), Cello Writing and Stationery (10 December 2025), and Cello Tips (23 December 2025).
Notes highlight the labour code consolidation effective November 2025 with minimal overall impact so far, pending full rules. All figures unaudited, prepared under Ind AS, and compliant with SEBI norms.
In a market where consumer goods firms juggle costs and codes, Cello World’s numbers show steady handiwork not a smash hit, but no write-off either. For investors or casual observers, it’s a reminder that even everyday brands have their dramatic quarters.
Brands
Dunkin’ Donuts to exit India as Jubilant FoodWorks ends 15-year franchise deal
The quick service restaurant giant is ending a 15-year franchise partnership with the American doughnut chain, even as it renews its Domino’s agreement for another 15 years
NOIDA: Dunkin’ is done in India. Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd, the country’s leading quick service restaurant operator, has decided not to renew its franchise agreement with the American coffee and doughnut chain, and will wind down its Indian stores in a phased manner before December 31, 2026, bringing a 15-year partnership to a quiet, loss-laden close.
The decision, approved by JFL’s board on March 30, 2026, ends a relationship that began with a Multiple Unit Development Franchise Agreement signed on February 24, 2011. JFL will now evaluate and undertake what it described in a regulatory filing as the “rationalisation and/or cessation of certain operations and/or sale, transfer or disposal of assets and/or assignment or transfer of franchise rights,” all in consultation with Dunkin’s brand owners and strictly within the terms of the original agreement.
The numbers tell the story bluntly. In the financial year 2024-25, Dunkin’ India posted a revenue of Rs 37 crore against a loss of Rs 19 crore — a haemorrhage that was always going to test the patience of a parent company recording revenues of Rs 6,104 crore and a profit of Rs 194 crore in the same period. Doughnuts, it turns out, were never going to move the needle.
The contrast with JFL’s handling of its other marquee franchise could hardly be sharper. Even as it walks away from Dunkin’, the company has just doubled down on Domino’s, signing a fresh Master Franchise Agreement on March 31, 2026, granting it exclusive rights to develop and operate Domino’s Pizza stores in India for 15 years, with an option to renew for a further 10.
JFL, incorporated in 1995 and promoted by the Bharatia family, operates a network of more than 3,500 stores across six markets — India, Turkey, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Its portfolio includes Domino’s and Popeyes on the global side, and two home-grown brands: Hong’s Kitchen and COFFY, a café brand in Turkey.
For Dunkin’, India was always a stretch. The brand never quite cracked the cultural code in a market where filter coffee and chai command fierce loyalty and where the doughnut remains, at best, an occasional indulgence rather than a daily habit. Fifteen years, mounting losses and a parent with better things to spend its capital on was always going to be a difficult equation to solve.
The doughnut has had its last day. The pizza, however, is staying.
