Global packaged seafood company Captain Fresh has crossed ₹5,000 crore in consolidated revenue in FY26, while remaining profitable at the profit-after-tax (PAT) level for the second consecutive year.
The company reported revenue of ₹5,169 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2026, up from ₹3,397 crore in FY25. Its adjusted EBITDA nearly tripled to ₹371 crore, compared with ₹136 crore a year earlier.
Captain Fresh’s gross margin also expanded to 23.5% in FY26 from 17% in the previous year, marking an improvement of 6.5 percentage points.
Building a global seafood platform
Founded in 2020 by Utham Gowda, Captain Fresh operates a portfolio of seafood brands across Europe and North America.
Its European processing network includes Frime in Spain, Koral in Poland, Senecrus in France and CFT in Denmark through a joint venture. In North America, the company operates through CenSea, Ocean Garden and Ocean Edge, supplying ready-to-cook seafood products primarily to foodservice channels.
Captain Fresh sources seafood from more than 30 countries across three oceans. Its leading sourcing markets in FY26 included Ecuador, Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Norway, Chile and Mexico.
“Our answer has been a house of premium brands, each a leader in its own lane and each still run by the operators who built it,” said Utham Gowda, CMD and Group CEO, Captain Fresh.
Focus on profitability and capital efficiency
The company said its return on capital employed improved from 9% to 11% during FY26, with a target of more than 20% in FY27.
Captain Fresh reported debt of ₹2,300 crore on its balance sheet in FY26, of which ₹440 crore was long-term debt and the remainder was working-capital financing. Its debt-to-equity ratio stood at 1.6, and the company aims to bring it down to between 1.3 and 1.5.
The company also plans to improve inventory efficiency by increasing inventory turns from 2.9 as market conditions stabilise.
“FY26 stress-tested the industry in the form of tariffs and an unsettled trade environment, and we came out stronger than we went in,” said Mathew George, Group CFO and Whole-time Director, Captain Fresh.
Targets ₹10,000 crore revenue in FY27
Captain Fresh serves nearly 2,500 customers, including more than 50 of the world’s largest seafood buyers. The company said its growth strategy will focus on increasing wallet share among existing customers across species and product formats.
The company is also expanding its ready-to-eat portfolio, which it expects to support further margin improvement. Captain Fresh said it generated approximately ₹1 crore in EBITDA per day during FY26 and is now nearing ₹2 crore per day.
The company is targeting ₹10,000 crore in revenue in FY27 as it scales its European and North American operations.
Captain Fresh is backed by investors including Accel, Tiger Global Management, Prosus Ventures, Z47, Evolvence Group and British International Investment.
By: Sejal Thakur
