Emami, a fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) major, is the full owner of The Man Company, a major company in the men’s grooming and personal care segment. The fiscal year ended March 2026 saw difficult financial results from The Man Company. The regulatory documents indicated that the Gurugram-based direct-to-consumer brand grew at a modest pace on the top line this year. Its net losses for the year widened by 48.7% as it faced a significant rise in operational costs.

Diverse portfolio and rising operational costs

The company produces and sells a wide range of men’s grooming products, including essential consumer categories like skincare, haircare, beard care, and fragrance. The growth of awareness and adoption of men’s grooming routines in urban markets did not translate into the aggressive velocity of revenue for the startup. 

The increasing operational expenses underscore the ongoing challenges large and traditional-level consumer corporations are facing to scale and optimise their digitally-forward D2C acquisitions in a profitable manner. The Man Company was able to achieve a modest expansion of operating size at the top-line level. 

The brand’s revenue from operations increased by 4.5%, to ₹161.17 crore in FY 2026, from the previous FY ended March 2025, showing ₹154 crore. Its trajectory was clearly shifting to a down market cycle during the last few fiscal years, with the slow growth rate showing a major deceleration for the platform.

The consumer brand also had minor non-operational income of ₹12 lakh in the last 12 months. With the operational revenue, the total income generated by the enterprise during the fiscal year amounted to ₹161.29 crore. The business was able to maintain growth in its income, but this single-digit increase was proving to be woefully inadequate to fend off mounting structural liabilities.

Material expenses and margins post acquisition

After a careful examination of the firm’s financial statements, it was found that high costs in several key business segments contributed to the firm’s declining profitability. Materials consumed became the largest single spending item for the grooming brand during the fiscal year. 

Material expenses rose by 12.9%, reaching ₹64.15 crore for the fiscal year ending March 26, 2026, from ₹56.82 crore in the previous year. The company made some savings from within the business, including an 8.5% decline in the expenses of employee benefits to ₹21.24 crore, but other financial pressures increased. 

Finance cost has surged by 26% to reach ₹4.07 crore. The general category of ‘other expenses’, representing certain corporate functions, rose by 13.6% to ₹101.68 crore. This rise in expenses on the whole contributed to an increase in total expenses from ₹177 crore in the fiscal year 2025 to ₹194 crore in the fiscal year 2026, thus showing an increase of 9.6%.

The net loss of the brand in the 2026 fiscal year went down to ₹32.54 crore from ₹21.88 crore in its previous fiscal year, as a direct consequence of escalating operational costs at over double the pace of revenue growth. The negative impact on the company’s Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA) margin is serious, dropping it to negative 15.91% from negative 9.66% a year ago.

This has also been reflected in the brand’s core unit economics, which worsened during the review period. The unit cost for The Man Company to generate operating revenue has risen from ₹1.15 in 2025 to ₹1.20 in 2026. 

As of the end of the financial period, the company reported a liquid cash and bank balance of ₹4.09 crore and total current assets of ₹46 crore. The metrics highlight the continued financial health of the brand since it was fully acquired by Emami in July 2024 after a seven-year process of phasing out the purchase of the company, starting with an equity stake of 30% in 2017.

Conclusion

The fiscal year that ended March 2026 marked a discouraging operational time for The Man Company, with net losses rising by 49% while revenues increased by 4.5%. With the potential financial windfall from its parent, Emami, the business’s steadily rising material costs and deteriorating unit economics reveal the stark realities of scaling a D2C personal care brand sustainably.

Its negative EBITDA margin is going further, making the platform urgently need to reconsider cost structures and distribution channels. Financial recovery will largely rely on its ability to rein in its rising spending to service the business and to generate organic demand in an increasingly competitive male grooming market.