Nykaa, Mamaearth, Policybazaar and Delhivery outshine legacy players in Q1FY26

Shares of Nykaa jumped over 4% after its Q1FY26 earnings cheered investor sentiments. The company reported all round growth in the quarter from topline to bottomline. Shares of Honasa Consumer, all over known for its products under Mamaearth brand also jumped 10% in early trade on Wednesday after company reported highest ever quarterly profit.

These two companies highlight the trend of new age companies outperforming the incumbent large companies which faced contraction in profitability margins as well as volume.

Here’s how key new age companies like Nykaa, Mama Earth, Policybazaar and Delhivery performed in Q1FY26 earnings season.

Robust topline

All these new age companies have continued to gain traction in the topline during the June quarter earnings. Among the above four companies, Nykaa and PB Fintech posted 23% YoY and 33% YoY growth in the revenue, while Honasa Consumer and Delhivery reported single digit revenue growth of 7.5% and 6% YoY during the quarter.

Despite the single-digit growth, Honasa Consumer posted its highest-ever quarterly revenue in Q1FY26. Its beauty and personal care portfolio, which contributes 80% of the company's revenue, clocked double-digit growth. While Delhivery’s single digit growth was impacted by drop in delivery pincodes from 18,783 to 18,857.

PB Fintech's 33% jump in revenue was led by a 35% increase in online premiums and new health insurance premiums at 65% YoY. Similarly, FSN E-Commerce Ventures, which owns the Nykaa brand, saw a 25% jump in GMV (gross market value), which boosted a 23% rise in the total revenue for the quarter.

Improving operational efficiency

Despite the mixed trend in the topline growth, all the companies reported sharp improvement in operational efficiency.

Nykaa reported a 46% YoY jump in EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation) and a 100 bps expansion in EBITDA margins from 5.5% to 6.5% in Q1FY26. This was aided by 30% YoY jump in customers to over 45 million. In addition, the operating margin from the beauty segment jumped expanded from 8.5% to 9% and fashion segment’s operating loss margin improved from -9.2% to -6.5%.

Honasa Consumer, reported 0.7% YoY drop in EBITDA and slight contraction in the margin. However, the company posted sequential improvement in the operating margin continuing the overall trend.

Despite a single digit rise in the revenue, Delhivery, posted sharp improvement in operating profit and margins during the quarter. Company’s EBITDA for the quarter stood at ₹149 crore as compared to ₹91 crore in the previous year’s similar quarter. In addition, the EBITDA margin improved from 5.4% in the same period last year to 6.5% in the Q1FY26. This was partially aided by better truckload margin during the quarter and downsizing of corporate overheads during the quarter.

For PB Fintech, the owner of online insurance aggregator policybazaar, the adjusted EBITDA margin for the quarter improved from 5% to 7% in the Q1FY26. This was aided by strong renewal rate in the insurance business and steady growth in new insurance premiums.

Core profitability

Led by improving operational efficiency, the bottomline growth for all these new age companies stood strong and robust. Overall new age companies outperformed the existing large peers in terms of profitability growth as they struggled to improve operational efficiency.

Amongst all, Nykaa’s net profit soared highest at 79% YoY to ₹24 crore. Followed by Delhivery at 67% YoY. Meanwhile, Honasa Consumer’s net profit surged in high single-digits of 7%, but the quarterly net profit stood highest since inception marking significant milestone for the company. Lastly, PB Fintech at 40.6% YoY, if excluding an exception income in the previous year’s same quarter, the net profit for the quarter jumped 347% YoY to ₹85 crore.

In summary, the Q1FY26 was seen as a strong quarter for the new age companies as they posted robust quarterly earnings. This performance is seen as crucial amid broader weak sentiment over earnings. The legacy consumer giants like HUL, Britannia, Nestle India, Marico, ITC posted mid-to-high single digit growth in profits as compared to high and strong double digits by these new age companies.

In addition, to these companies, the food delivery and quick commerce platform’s like Eternal and Swiggy too posted improvement during the quarter and posed a better outlook for coming quarters.