Control Print's promises on packaging, V-Shapes and Track and Trace all slipped this quarter
The core coding business held steady, but management pushed packaging break-even to H1 FY28, admitted V-Shapes remain unreliable, and Track and Trace pilots failed to commercialize — three reversals in one call.
What's new
- Standalone operating revenue rose 5% to ₹105 cr, with 574 printers sold in Q1.
- V-Shapes repeat orders suffered due to packet leakage and difficult changeovers.
- Packaging break-even pushed to H1 FY28, a year later than earlier guided.
- Track and Trace pilots completed IQ/DQ/PQ but commercial launch still pending customer feedback.
Themes from the call
Demand
Coding and marking demand steady with leadership in cement, plywood, sugar; V-Shapes demand exists but execution gaps kill repeat orders.
Margins
Coding margins stable ex-forex at ~60% gross and ~30% EBIT; packaging losses persist and no margin guide for new businesses.
Capital allocation
IP transfer likely last cash infusion for V-Shapes; Assam film plant equipment ordered but limbo after incentive suspension.
Guidance watch
- Packaging break-even in H1 FY28 — a material delay from the earlier Q3/Q4 FY27 target.
- Coding and marking growth of 10-15% by year-end, margins to recover a couple of percentage points via price hike and surcharge.
- V-Shapes machine usability targeted at 100% stability but no deadline provided.
- Track and Trace market could expand from ₹600 cr to ₹1,500 cr if QR regulation passes — conditional, not company revenue.
- International subsidiaries expected to break even this year.
Risk flags
- Packaging break-even delayed again; machine standardization and in-house film production still incomplete.
- V-Shapes reliability gap undermines revenue potential; management admits 95% opening rate is insufficient.
- Track and Trace commercialization remains stuck in pilot feedback stage with no revised timeline.
- Assam facility commissioning uncertain after incentive suspension.
Key quotes
-
"I do not care about selling machines that do not work perfectly just to boost short-term sales."
— Shiva Kabra, Management -
"We are not getting repeat business because customers feel it is too difficult to use, or sometimes the packet does not open perfectly 100 out of 100 times."
— Shiva Kabra, Management
The brief
Control Print's call this quarter was defined not by its steady core but by a series of delayed promises. The packaging business, which management had guided to break even in FY27's second half, is now not expected to do so until the first half of FY28. That shift alone would have been notable, but it was compounded by a reversal on V-Shapes: six months ago the team was 'increasingly confident' in executing co-packaging orders; this quarter it said customers are walking away because the packets leak or fail one time in twenty. Track and Trace, touted as close to commercial close in January, remains in pilot feedback limbo with three customers and three possible outcomes. The core coding business is fine: 95% of revenue, 5% growth, stable margins. But the new ventures that were supposed to drive the next leg of growth are stuck in a limbo of execution gaps and timeline slippages. The company's future depends on whether it can turn V-Shapes from a difficult prototype into a reliable product, and whether packaging can actually break even by H1 FY28. Until then, the steady core masks an uncertain pipeline.
Control Print's core coding is fine. Its new businesses are not — and the gap between promise and delivery is widening.