Overview
Bairaha Farms is a vertically integrated poultry producer, spanning breeding, feed, farming, processing, cold storage and distribution. The key change is a return from loss to profit in the latest June quarter, driven by stronger sales and a substantial improvement in operating profitability.
The valuation band is Moderately undervalued, and the operating recovery supports a bullish stance rather than merely a cheap-looking multiple. The important qualification is that the price now stands at a relatively rich point against the company’s own book-value history.
Price performance
At LKR 89.70 on 25 September 2026, the share had gained 84.0% over one year against a 3.4% ASPI rise, while its 3-month return was negative 3.8% against the index’s negative 5.3%. The return record is restated for the 1:5 share split effective 26 December 2025, so the split does not represent an economic gain or loss.
The share stood 83.8% of the way from its 52-week low to high, placing it relatively near the top of its annual trading range. Its 60-day volatility was 56.1% below its own one-year rate and recent volume was 30.0% below the preceding 60-day norm, indicating a quieter trading period by Bairaha’s own standards.
The three-year record shows four falls of 15% or more, the deepest 32%, which has not yet recovered. Median daily turnover was LKR 3.7 million: a LKR 1 million order is about 27% of what trades on a typical day, a large part of a day’s trading.
Valuation
The shares trade on 7.7 times earnings, meaning LKR 7.70 paid for every LKR 1 of trailing profit, versus a consumer-retail median of 13.6 times. They also trade at 1.11 times book value, or LKR 1.11 for each LKR 1 of net assets, and sit in the cheaper quarter of sector peers on both P/E and P/B.
A 14.9% FY2026 return on equity helps explain why the shares trade modestly above book rather than at a deep discount. However, the P/B is more expensive than 88% of days since January 2019, a clear tension between cheapness versus peers and a high valuation versus Bairaha’s own record.
The dividend yield is 2.0%, below the sector median, while dividends rose to LKR 1.82 in FY2026 from LKR 0.50 in FY2025. The LKR 0.82 second interim dividend went ex-dividend on 8 June 2026, so a buyer today does not receive it.
News and sentiment
Direct company coverage is thin, with no material articles recorded in the last 90 days. The only recent material disclosure was the LKR 0.82 second interim dividend, reported on 27 May 2026.
The 1:5 subdivision became effective on 26 December 2025. It multiplied the number of shares but did not alter the size of the business, so older per-share figures require split adjustment before comparison.
Financials
June-quarter revenue rose 20.6% year-on-year to LKR 4.2 billion, while operating profit increased 401% to LKR 375 million. The company turned a LKR 22 million loss in the prior-year quarter into LKR 242 million of profit, meaning the earnings behind the current share price are now positive after a weak comparison base.
Gross margin rose from 15.6% to 20.6%, operating margin from 3.6% to 9.0%, and net margin from 4.3% to 5.8%. The latest June gross and operating margins were middling against comparable prior June quarters, ranking fourth of 10 and fourth of nine respectively, so the recovery is substantial but not an exceptional result in Bairaha’s own record.
LKR 133 million was absorbed between operating and net profit by finance costs, tax and other below-the-line items, so not all of the operating recovery reached shareholders. Equity rose to LKR 7.0 billion from LKR 5.8 billion a year earlier. The latest June filing and the prior-year comparison are both on a group basis; the current 88.0 million shares in issue are also the share count used in the latest balance sheet.
Risks
The principal financial risk is leverage: FY2026 debt was LKR 2.8 billion, equal to 40.7% of owners’ equity. Operating profit covered the interest bill 5.19 times, which provides a buffer, but leaves earnings exposed if profitability weakens or borrowing costs rise.
Liquidity was adequate but not abundant, with a current ratio of 1.39 times. This means the company had LKR 1.39 of short-term assets, including inventory and customer balances, for every LKR 1 of bills due within a year. Annual operating cash flow was 1.78 times operating profit and free cash flow was LKR 694 million, which is a constructive check on the FY2026 recovery.
The operating backdrop remains demanding. As at 28 September 2026, consumer-retail conditions included higher food and transport inflation, pressure on household budgets and elevated oil prices, all of which are relevant to a domestic food producer and distributor but are not company-specific events.
Outlook
As at 28 September 2026, the next identified event is the September 2026 interim-quarter filing, expected between 6 and 14 November. It will show whether the June return to profit extended into the next quarter or whether the recovery was confined to one reporting period.
The available data cannot separate the effects of poultry pricing, feed costs, volumes and export activity within the June improvement. The next filing is therefore the clearest evidence on the durability of the improved operating result.