Shares of health and nutrition products maker Zydus Wellness have climbed more than 25% in the last one month even as the company’s profits show the strain of new launches and overseas acquisitions, but its CEO’s focus is elsewhere: stay ahead of consumer expectations, not lag them.
“As long as you are focused on evolving with the brand or ahead of the consumer’s expectations, you will stay in touch. If you are only following, you will lose relevance pretty quickly,” Tarun Arora told Mint in an interview.
The strategy appears to be resonating with investors, at least in the near term.
Shares of the company have risen 25.7% over the past month, significantly outperforming the Nifty 500’s 3.7% gain. The stock closed 3.8% higher at ₹508.30 on Monday on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), even as the company reported losses in the past two quarters, raising questions about the sustainability of its growth trajectory.
Arora is almost nonchalant: “We are focused on building business the right way. We don’t react to share price, whether it went down in the past or it is going up now.”
New products overdrive
Zydus Wellness has made new launches across categories in recent weeks.
In March, it expanded Glucon-D with Glucon-D Recharge, entering performance hydration alongside players like Hindustan Unilever Ltd’s Liquid IV. In January, it launched millet wafers under its protein brand RiteBite. More recently, on Monday, it introduced a chocolate and cherry face wash under Everyuth Naturals, a brand that leads India’s face scrub segment.
The company holds dominant positions in the categories it operates with its sugar substitute portfolio (Sugar Free) commanding a crushing 96% share of market and its hydration segment (Glucon-D) accounting for 58–60%.
But its recent financial results reflect the cost of expansion. In the first nine months of fiscal year 2026 (FY26), revenue rose 38% year-on-year to ₹2,464 crore, largely driven by acquisitions, its company filings showed. Net profit, however, fell sharply to ₹35.2 crore for the April-December quarter, nearly a fifth of the previous year’s level.
Arora, an industry veteran with stints at Danone, Godrej Consumer Products and Dabur India, is confident that his company’s inorganic bets will deliver over the long term, even as he cautions against overreliance on acquisitions. “We don’t want to build a business on inorganic growth alone,” he said.
The CEO was referring to mergers and acquisitions in the last 18 months. In October 2024, it acquired Naturell India, which owns the RiteBite Max Protein, for ₹390 crore. RiteBite, which sells protein bars, multigrain protein chips, protein cookies, etc., is a pioneer brand in the segment in India and is now growing at double the rate prior to the buyout, said Arora. Its revenue increased from ₹120 crore in FY24 to ₹163 crore in FY25.
This was followed by a significantly larger international acquisition in August 2025, when its UK subsidiary bought Comfort Click and its global operations for £239 million (around ₹2,800 crore). The deal marked Zydus Wellness’ entry into global vitamins, minerals and supplements and pet care markets, with brands such as WeightWorld, Maxmedix and Animigo. Comfort Click reported consolidated revenues of £134 million or nearly ₹164 crore (unaudited) for the year to 30 June 2025, with a five-year compound annual growth rate of 57%.
Profits under squeeze
The near-term pressure on profitability has drawn some criticism, with analysts attributing losses to acquisition-related costs as well as seasonality. The company’s portfolio includes products such as Nycil prickly heat powder and Glucon-D, both of which are highly seasonal.
Arora acknowledged the volatility. “Over (a) three to four years (period), they show decent growth of double digit, but individual years may not be,” he said. “The last financial year has had an impact of seasonality, and we have two very large seasonal brands.”
Excluding seasonal brands and newly acquired businesses, the company reported high-teen growth during the nine-month period supported by slightly lower volume growth.
With a market capitalization of over ₹16,000 crore, Zydus Wellness reaches more than 70 million households through a distribution network of 2.8 million retail outlets and nearly 2,000 distributors. Larger group company and pharmaceuticals maker Zydus Lifesciences is valued at over ₹92,669 crore.
New adjacent growth streams
Looking ahead, the company is scouting for new growth avenues. “There are adjacencies which we have been working on, and we would want to participate in some of them,” Arora said, adding that the pace of innovation and portfolio “contemporization” remains high. “We’re evaluating three to four more spaces where we could have our launches happening.” He did not give more detail.
Analysts expect a gradual recovery. Zydus Wellness is gradually recovering with improving business momentum, Vyom Chheda, a research analyst at financial services firm BP Wealth, wrote in a note in February. “With rural demand showing faster recovery, exceptional costs expected to normalize, and operating leverage to play out over the medium term, the company appears well positioned to deliver progressive margin improvement, supporting (the) management’s 16-17% Ebitda margin target over the next two years, with FY26 likely marking the earnings trough,” Chheda noted.
Ebitda is short for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
While it is spread across segments, Zydus Wellness is expected to benefit from the general positive sentiments towards the recovery of the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) segment in India. Rural recovery and goods and services tax (GST) reforms are expected to bring long term growth in consumption in the economy.