Scrap Metal Saviour: The Ardee Industries Limited IPO
This company recycles junk you would have thrown away, so that new batteries can be made without polluting the Earth. Read all about their IPO
The following article is for educational purposes ONLY. Each and every piece of information used henceforth in this article is sourced from the Red Herring Prospectus (RHP) of Ardee Industries Limited.
IPO Summary
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Introduction
Recycling is vital for sustaining the environment and combating climate change. A lot of metals that would end up in landfills or the ocean get a new use from recycling. One of these metals is lead.
India recycled about 1.51 million tonnes of lead in FY26. Ardee Industries is one among many players that make this effort possible, as well as profitable.
Automobiles are big end-users of recycled metals. As India’s two-wheeler fleet keeps expanding, so does the demand for batteries to put in those vehicles, and this is where organised, compliant recyclers like Ardee Industries get their market.
They’re now going for an IPO, consisting of a Fresh Issue of ~₹320 Cr, alongside an Offer for Sale of ~₹105 Cr. The IPO is live from August 5th to 7th, 2026.
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Business Model
Ardee Industries buys used lead-acid batteries and other lead-bearing scrap, breaks them down, and recovers pure lead and lead alloys through a four-stage process.
The company sells along two main product lines:
Pure lead, with a purity of 99.97% to 99.985%,
Five types of lead alloys (calcium, antimony, tin, silver, and cadmium). Each alloy is suited to a different application such as automotive batteries, UPS and inverter backup, telecom power, or cable sheathing.
A very important feature of Ardee’s business model is how it handles commodity price risk.
Lead prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) and Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) move constantly, and someone like Ardee is exposed to that movement twice, while buying the scrape and while selling the recycled metal.
Ardee manages this through:
i) Back-to-back pricing, where price quoted to a customer is linked to the LME price at the time of order confirmation,
ii) LME futures hedging, where Ardee covers its exposure through forward contracts.
Unit Economics
Revenue per tonne grew 17% from ₹1.42 lakhs in FY24 to ₹1.67 lakhs in FY26.
Adj. EBITDA increased 144% from ₹8,615 in FY24 to ₹21,055 in FY26 because of higher unit gross margins, a shift toward value-added products and rapid export growth.
Operating Metrics
Installed capacity nearly doubled from 54,750 MTPA in FY24 to 104,025 MTPA in FY25 and FY26. Utilisation dipped to 45% in FY25, and rose to 67% in FY26 as the new capacity came online.
Repeat customers grew steadily from 29 to 36 from FY24 to FY26, but their share of revenue actually fell from 93% in FY24 to 86% in FY26.
Export revenue grew 139% from 18% in FY24 to now making up 40% of FY26 revenue. Growth has shifted from being purely domestic to now nearly evenly split.
The Financial Stuff
Revenue from Operations grew 152% from ₹463 Cr in FY24 to ₹1,168 Cr in FY26, faster than costs could catch up.
This allowed EBITDA Margin to grow 116% from 6% in FY24 to 13% in FY26 and PAT Margin from 2% in FY24 to 7% in FY26.
Ardee’s Peers (FY26)
Ardee is the smallest amongst its peer set by size in terms of Revenue from Operations, standing at ₹1,169 Cr, with Pondy Oxides being the next lowest at ₹2,958 Cr.
Despite this, Ardee posts the highest EBITDA Margin among the peer set at 13% in FY26.
Ardee’s PAT Margin of 7% is also the second highest behind Gravita India’s 9%.
Key Risks
Customer concentration: Ardee’s top customer accounted for 41% of revenue from operations in FY26, and top five customers make up 82% of revenue. The loss of any key customers could have an adverse effect on revenue and profitability.
Single industry dependence: In FY26, 85% of revenue came from the battery and metal industries. A slowdown in either industry such as a shift away from lead-acid batteries toward alternative technologies could reduce order volumes, leading to worsening profits.
Summary
Ardee Industries is a fast-growing lead recycler in an industry that’s geared towards growth, and the company itself is built on a strong revenue base and margins that have expanded steadily. But, the business still remains concentrated sectorally and also with regards to customers.
Disclaimer
This content is based on publicly available information contained in the Red Herring Prospectus (RHP) and is intended solely for educational and informational purposes. It should not be construed as investment advice, recommendation or solicitation to invest.
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Source: Red Herring Prospectus (RHP) of Ardee Industries Limited