Appl Containers Limited IPO

01At a glance

What the company does: manufactures containers at a facility in Bhavnagar, Gujarat; it began container leasing in FY26, and through Aawadkrupa Plastomech, acquired on 14 August 2025, designs and makes plastic extrusion plants and rope-making machinery (DRHP p.29). It sold 7,343 twenty-foot-equivalent units in FY25 (DRHP p.144).

Who pays it: almost entirely Aawadkrupa Plastomech, for job work: 100% of FY23 revenue, 99.45% of FY24 and 86.26% of FY25 (DRHP p.43). The company had eight customers in FY25 (DRHP p.44).

Why it is raising money: ₹550.00 million for working capital, ₹160.00 million to repay borrowings, and the rest for general purposes (DRHP p.30). Converted from ₹ lakh.

How fast it has grown: revenue from ₹45 million in FY23 to ₹404 million in FY24 and ₹690 million in FY25 (DRHP p.33). Converted from ₹ lakh.

The one thing to understand: the company's customer is now its subsidiary. APPL did job work for Aawadkrupa, an entity over which its key managers had significant influence, paid it liquidated damages for delays, and then bought all of it for ₹630.48 million in cash, more than APPL's own net worth of ₹548.35 million at March 2025 (DRHP p.33, DRHP p.36, DRHP p.262, DRHP p.263).

02The business, in plain words

A container maker fabricates shipping containers in its factory. Most of APPL's work so far has been job work, manufacturing containers for Aawadkrupa, which sold them on to the end customer.

Aawadkrupa receives an order for containers → it contracts APPL to fabricate them at the Bhavnagar plant → APPL delivers and bills job-work charges → when APPL was late, it paid liquidated damages to Aawadkrupa, which passed them to the end customer.

Earnings equation: Profit ≈ containers fabricated × job-work charge − labour and overheads − liquidated damages − interest. Gross margin was 85.44% and EBITDA margin 64.82% in FY25 (DRHP p.142).

03Where the money comes from

Source: DRHP p.36, DRHP p.43, DRHP p.44, DRHP p.144. The last row is converted from ₹ lakh.

04The growth record

Source: DRHP p.33, DRHP p.92, DRHP p.142. Converted from ₹ lakh.

Our arithmetic: revenue compounded about 290.4% a year from FY23 to FY25 and profit after tax about 297.0% (DRHP p.33). Trade receivable days were 169 in FY23, 14 in FY24 and 19 in FY25 (DRHP p.128).

05What the growth is made of

Job work for one related customer. Containers sold rose from 450 TEU in FY23 to 7,343 in FY25 (DRHP p.144). Job-work charges from Aawadkrupa were ₹762.73 million in FY25 before ₹167.33 million of liquidated damages paid back to it (DRHP p.36).

06Earnings quality

Operating cash flow tracked profit in FY24 and FY25 (DRHP p.92). But in FY25 the company also lent ₹396.32 million and recovered ₹246.52 million of loans and advances, and bought ₹75.00 million of investments (DRHP p.92). It lent Aawadkrupa ₹25.71 million in FY25 and ₹20.06 million in FY24, and bought ₹116.92 million of capital goods from it in FY24 (DRHP p.36). Gross margin was 95.87% in FY23, 93.63% in FY24 and 85.44% in FY25 (DRHP p.142).

07The balance sheet

Source: DRHP p.33. Converted from ₹ lakh.

08What the money is for

Source: DRHP p.30. Converted from ₹ lakh.

09Who is selling

Source: DRHP p.30, DRHP p.31. The last row is our arithmetic. The selling-shareholder table later in the summary gives Manishaben Viradiya 1,303,315 shares and Vaibhav Vallabhbhai Viradiya 1,928,315, the reverse of the shareholding table (DRHP p.31, DRHP p.32).

The capital-structure chapter names all eight sellers: Hasmukhbhai Meghjibhai Viradiya up to 5,30,000 shares, Vallabhbhai Meghjibhai Viradiya up to 2,60,000, Manishaben Viradiya up to 3,75,000, Tirthraj Hasmukhbhai Viradiya up to 3,75,000, and Vaibhav Vallabhbhai Viradiya, Saritaben Viradiya, Ektaben Vaibhavbhai Viradiya and Tejasbhai Vallabhbhai Viradiya up to 2,55,000 each, all of them promoters (DRHP p.105, DRHP p.106). The fresh offer is up to 12,50,000 shares and the offer for sale up to 25,60,000, on 1,37,28,570 shares before the offer and up to 1,49,78,570 after it (DRHP p.105).

10Promoters

The promoters are eight members of the Viradiya family, led by chairperson and managing director Hasmukhbhai Meghjibhai Viradiya, who is also managing director of Aawadkrupa (DRHP p.29, DRHP p.263). The promoters have filed 22 criminal cases and one civil case involving ₹1,351.85 million, largely cheque-dishonour complaints against "My Money Solution", which the complainants allege induced investments on assured returns (DRHP p.34, DRHP p.440).

The eight promoters are Hasmukhbhai Meghjibhai Viradiya, Vallabhbhai Meghjibhai Viradiya, Vaibhav Vallabhbhai Viradiya, Manishaben Viradiya, Saritaben Viradiya, Ektaben Vaibhavbhai Viradiya, Tejasbhai Vallabhbhai Viradiya and Tirthraj Hasmukhbhai Viradiya (DRHP p.112).

11Who already owns it

Source: DRHP p.31. The last row is our arithmetic. The weighted average cost of shares transacted in the last year was ₹47.20 (DRHP p.40).

No shareholder outside the eight promoters holds 1% or more before the offer (DRHP p.112). Our arithmetic: the promoters' 1,31,95,420 shares less the 25,60,000 offered leave 1,06,35,420 of up to 1,49,78,570 shares after the offer, or 71.0% (DRHP p.105, DRHP p.112).

12What changed just before the IPO

• Acquisition: Aawadkrupa bought for ₹630.48 million in cash on 14 August 2025, on two valuation reports, with no share purchase agreement (DRHP p.263).

• Leasing: container leasing started in FY26 (DRHP p.29).

• Customers: job work fell to 86% of revenue in FY25 (DRHP p.43).

• Public company: converted from a private limited company in June 2025 (DRHP p.2).

• Bonus issue: 4:1 in September 2025, 1,09,82,856 shares on 27,45,714 (DRHP p.106).

• Last allotment before the IPO: a private placement at ₹2,157 a share in July 2025, followed by the bonus in September (DRHP p.106).

• No split, no pre-IPO placement: no split or consolidation of the shares in the last year, and no pre-IPO placement contemplated (DRHP p.41).

• Promoter remuneration: nil in FY23, ₹51.60 lakh in FY24 and ₹51.60 lakh in FY25, across four promoters (DRHP p.37).

• Auditors: J. Vasania & Associates resigned in March 2023 and Talreja & Talreja was appointed; Talreja & Talreja resigned in January 2025 and J. Vasania & Associates was appointed again (DRHP p.99).

13Capacity and expansion

One container facility at Bhavnagar (DRHP p.29). The proceeds fund working capital (DRHP p.30).

14Market size and industry structure

The ICRA report cited in the offer document puts the global shipping-container market at US$20.1 billion in 2024, after 0.6% annual growth since 2019, and expects 6.8% a year to US$37.4 billion by 2033 (DRHP p.29). Those projections are ICRA's, and newboard has not tested them.

15Competitive position

What the document claims, and what it rests on:

• Scale-up from 450 to 7,343 TEU in two years (DRHP p.144).
• Integration with Aawadkrupa's machinery business (DRHP p.29).

Against that: one customer, now a subsidiary; only eight customers in FY25; delays that led to liquidated damages; and a new leasing business (DRHP p.43, DRHP p.44, DRHP p.262).

16Peers the company named

Source: DRHP p.140, DRHP p.146. The peers' average P/E is 33.29 (DRHP p.140).

No P/E is possible for the company until a price band is set.

17Risks, in plain words

• One customer. Job work for its now-subsidiary was 86% of FY25 revenue (DRHP p.43).
• Related-party acquisition. ₹630.48 million paid for that customer (DRHP p.263).
• Delays. Liquidated damages of ₹167.33 million in FY25 (DRHP p.36).
• Few customers. Eight in FY25 (DRHP p.44).
• Leasing. A new, untested business line (DRHP p.44).

18Litigation and regulatory matters

Source: DRHP p.34, DRHP p.50. Converted from ₹ lakh.

19Related-party transactions

Beyond Aawadkrupa, factory rent of ₹15.00 million each was paid to Hasmukhbhai and Vallabhbhai Viradiya in FY25 (DRHP p.36).

20What the offer document does not say

In the sections read for this study, the document does not give:

• Who sold Aawadkrupa to APPL, and who received the ₹630.48 million, in the pages read.
• Who Aawadkrupa's end customers are, in the pages read.
• Who received the ₹396.32 million of loans and advances in FY25, in the pages read.
• Why the two shareholding tables disagree for two promoters (DRHP p.31, DRHP p.32).
• The price band, lot size or issue dates, which is normal at DRHP stage.

21Five questions for management

1. Who were Aawadkrupa's shareholders before the acquisition, and how was ₹630.48 million justified?
2. With Aawadkrupa now a subsidiary, what will consolidated revenue look like without intra-group job work?
3. Why were liquidated damages as high as 22% of job-work charges?
4. To whom were ₹396 million of loans and advances made in FY25?
5. How does the promoters' dispute over "My Money Solution" affect their finances?

1Sources and cited facts

This study was read from 1 document the company filed. The 64 figures it cites are listed under the document each came from, with the page and the sentence as printed.