Financial Position and Cash-Flow Quality of Five Indian FMCG Companies, FY2024–FY2026: An Event-Adjusted Comparative Analysis

Ratio analysis of published financial statements is the usual first step in equity and credit research, but textbook benchmarks and unadjusted headline figures can mislead when applied to firms with unusual business models or corporate events. This study compares five listed Indian FMCG companies (Hindustan Unilever [HUL], Britannia Industries, Dabur India, ITC and Nestlé India) over FY2024–FY2026, using balance-sheet, cash-flow and profit-and-loss data compiled in the author’s internship report from an aggregator (Screener.in) and company disclosures. The analysis combines liquidity, solvency, efficiency, DuPont and cash-conversion measures with an explicit data-comparability audit. The audit found three distortions: Nestlé India’s FY2024 covers fifteen months; HUL’s FY2026 profit includes a one-time demerger gain of about ₹4,611 crore; and ITC’s FY2025 profit includes a one-time gain of about ₹15,179 crore. After adjustment, HUL’s FY2026 net margin is approximately 16% rather than the reported 23.4%, and Nestlé India’s two-year revenue CAGR turns from −2.6% to roughly +9% when its fifteen-month FY2024 is annualised (a straight-line approximation). In every firm-year leverage is low (debt-to-equity of 0.52 or less) and operating cash flow is positive; current ratios below 1.0 coexist with strong cash generation, which is consistent with a supplier-financed working-capital model rather than distress. On a six-metric composite scorecard ITC ranks first and HUL second under all four specifications tested, Britannia ranks last, and only third and fourth places (Dabur and Nestlé India) change. The study is descriptive, covers five firms and three years, and relies on secondary data; most inputs were not independently verified against primary annual reports.