Zen Technologies Ltd fell 14 per cent in Monday's trade, following the defence manufacturer's weak set of March quarter results. Revenue declined 76 per cent year-on-year (YoY), which missed MOFSL's estimate by 44 per cent. Due to weakness in overall execution, absolute Ebitda declined 96 per cent while profit after tax plunged 83 per cent, the brokerage noted.

The Zen Tech management insisted the company is entering FY27 better positioned than "at any point in our recent history.” Analysts said they will update their targets post conference call, which was scheduled for 9 am today. 

SBI Securities in a flash note said the FY26 performance for Zen Tech was weaker compared to FY25. That said, the reported financials do not fully capture the structural changes implemented by the company over the past two years. "The company fell short of achieving even the revised guidance of flattish performance for FY26," it noted.  

The brokerage said FY26 was impacted by slower-than-expected order conversions, with execution timelines extending beyond management’s expectations. A majority of order wins were received in the second half of FY26 and are expected to translate into revenues in FY27, it said.

The company ended the year with a consolidated order book of Rs 1,336 cro, almost twice its FY26 revenues.

"The deal pipeline continues to remain healthy, and most of the existing order book is slated for execution in FY27, supporting improved outlook visibility. Additional insights will be provided following the analyst conference call," it said.

What Zen Tech management says

The management said FY26 financial performance was muted relative to FY25, a trajectory it 
communicated earlier to investors and stakeholders. What the headline numbers do not capture is the structural transformation that took place over the last 2 years, it insisted.

"Zen ended FY26 as a defence company with five capabilities that are ready to be offered to the Armed Forces — training simulation and systems, counter drone solutions, automated weapons stations, combat robotics and drones. The recent expansion of our product portfolio dovetails to the actual war needs as amplified recent wars including the Iran war," it said.

Another positive for the year, it said, was the contribution from our subsidiaries to the consolidated revenue and earnings, validating the capital allocation decisions that it made over years. 

"These investments collectively position Zen to compete across a wider set of opportunities going forward. FY26 was a year where order conversion timing was delayed beyond what we expected,
but now FY27 execution is clearly visible," it said.

The defence company said the draft Defence Acquisition Procedure 2026 and the broader policy push
towards Buy Indian IDDM continue to intensify the tailwinds initiated by late Mr Manohar Parikkar. 

"Globally, recent events have underlined the strategic importance of layered counter-UAS systems and trained, combat-ready forces, both areas where Zen has built deep capability over three decades," it said.