Advance Agrolife Limited

Basic Materials — Agricultural Inputs · NSE

₹157.65−₹0.78 (−0.49%)

DalalBaazaar Score

61 / 100

🟢 Good

Verdict

NEUTRAL

Risk

High

Driven by negative free cash flow, micro-cap size, which brings thin liquidity.

In simple words: Strong business and financial position, with both sales and profits growing well. Cash generation is currently the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:00 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

The 60-second version of Advance Agrolife Limited — what it does, how it earns, and who it competes with, before any of the numbers below.

What does this company do?

Advance Agrolife Limited, an agrochemical company, engages in the business of manufacturing and distribution of agrochemicals in India and internationally.

IndustryAgricultural Inputs

SectorBasic Materials

Employees299

Annual revenue₹637 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹637 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹6 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹11 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 299 employees supports ₹2.13 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹2.13 Cr

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are TATA STEEL LIMITED, JSW STEEL LIMITED, ULTRATECH CEMENT LIMITED, ASIAN PAINTS LIMITED. These are the companies its valuation and returns are measured against elsewhere in this report.

Compared side by side in Peers ↓

What is its competitive advantage?Some evidence

ROCE of 17.4% is above what capital typically costs, which suggests some pricing power, though not yet the sustained, wide gap that marks a durable advantage.

Peer median ROE22.3%

What has been driving growth?

Sales and margins have both contributed to where profit is now. Over 3 years revenue moved +61% while net margin moved +48% relative to itself. What this cannot tell you is which products, customers or geographies did the work — that lives in the segment disclosures of the annual report.

Revenue effect+61%

Margin effect+48%

DalalBaazaar Score

61/ 100

Good

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Micro Cap: thinner liquidity and sharper drawdowns are normal
✗ Trading within 10% of its 52-week high — entries here carry more pullback risk
✗ Negative free cash flow means dependence on external funding

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

63/ 100

Average

How good the business is, ignoring the share price entirely.

Valuation

73/ 100

Cheap

What you are being asked to pay, ignoring how good the business is.

A reasonable business at a reasonable price — neither the quality nor the valuation stands out in either direction.

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

21.0x

1.2Y Median

27.8x

14 monthly readings · mean 27.0x · range 17.9x–34.0x

Sector Median

28.7x

median of 4 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 24% below its 1.2y median of 27.8x. Cheaper than its own history, which is worth a reason too: the market may be pricing in something the backward-looking numbers do not show.

🟢Against its sector it trades 27% below the peer median of 28.7x.

vs. its own history

Cheap

27.8x median over 14 months · -24%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

28.7x median of 4 peers · -27%

vs. generic bands

Fair

15x–35x

EV/EBITDA

16.2x

PEG

0.63

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well2

Margins are improving
EBITDA margin is up from 6.4% to 10.7% over 3 years.
Consistently profitable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years.

🔴 What Needs Attention2

Return on equity is falling
ROE has dropped from 29.4% to 11.4% — each rupee of shareholder capital earns less than it did.
Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from 40.6% to 17.4% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.

Red Flags

5 items require attention · 4 high · 1 watch

🔴Debt has risen sharplyFinancial
Total debt is up 287% over 3 years, from ₹25 Cr to ₹98 Cr.
🔴Free cash flow negative for 4 yearsFinancial
The business has not covered its capital spending from operations for several years running, which has to be funded externally.
🔴Profit up while operating cash flow fallsFinancial
Reported profit rose but cash generated by operations declined — worth checking whether earnings are being supported by non-cash items or working capital.
🔴Inventory building faster than salesFinancial
Inventory up 429% against revenue up 61% — stock may not be moving.
🟡Receivables growing faster than salesFinancial
Receivables up 88% against revenue up 61% — sales are being booked faster than they are collected.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Margin expansion has further to run
EBITDA margin has risen from 6.4% to 10.7%. If that holds, profit compounds faster than sales and today's multiple looks cheaper in hindsight than it does now.
Priced below its own history
The stock trades 24% below its own median multiple. If the business performs as it has and simply re-rates back to normal, that gap is return on its own.
Cheaper than its peers
It trades 27% below the sector median. Either the market sees a problem the numbers do not show, or the discount closes.
Earnings have proved durable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years. Consistency lowers the risk that any single bad year is structural rather than cyclical.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

Sales are being booked faster than collected
Receivables are up 88% against revenue up 61%. If customers keep taking longer to pay, reported profit will not turn into cash — and write-offs follow if some never do.
Returns on shareholder capital are falling
ROE has dropped from 29.4% to 11.4%. Each rupee of equity earns less than it did, so profit growth increasingly depends on raising more capital rather than on the existing base working harder.
Size brings its own risk
Micro Cap businesses are thinly traded, so exits are harder in a falling market and single events move the price more than they would for a larger company.
Several serious flags at once
4 high-severity checks triggered. Individually each has an explanation; together they raise the chance that something structural is wrong rather than a one-off.

🟡 Key Things to WatchMeasurable tripwires, set against where this company stands today

1Revenue growth stays above 13% a year✓ 17.1% CAGR
Latest reported year was 96.0%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above 9%✓ 10.7%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹109 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 1.4x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
5ROCE stays above 14%✓ 17.4%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

7 / 11 checks passed

✗ Strong return on equity (ROE ≥ 15%)
✓ Strong return on capital employed (ROCE ≥ 15%)
✗ Healthy net margin (≥ 10%)
✗ Generates positive free cash flow
✓ Manageable leverage (Debt/Equity < 1.0)
✓ Adequate short-term liquidity (Current Ratio ≥ 1.0)
✓ Revenue growing year-over-year
✓ Profit growing year-over-year
✓ Not trading at an extreme valuation (P/E < 40x)
✗ Not buying right at the 52-week high
✓ Short-term technical trend isn't bearish

Price history

Quick Metrics

5 good · 5 neutral · 1 weak

Market Cap

₹1,013 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

21.0x

Fair

Fairly valued against the generic band

P/B Ratio

3.61x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹7.49

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

11.4%

Moderate

Moderate capital efficiency

ROCE

17.4%

Strong

Earns comfortably above its likely cost of capital

Debt/Equity

0.32x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

96.0%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

75.9%

Healthy

Profits growing at a healthy clip

Dividend Yield

None

No dividend yield reported — usually means no payout, but verify if one was recently initiated

Free Cash Flow

-₹109 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

Operating Margin

9.8%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

6.1%

Average

Average bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

1.67

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

52W Range Position

92%

Near high

Near its 52-week high

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

124.4 / 120.7

Bullish alignment (short > long)

Price vs SMA 200

Above

Long-term uptrend

RSI (14)

78.6

Overbought zone

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹397 Cr	₹455 Cr	₹502 Cr	₹637 Cr	+17.1%
EBITDA	₹26 Cr	₹41 Cr	₹50 Cr	₹68 Cr	+38.7%
EBITDA Margin	6.4%	8.9%	9.9%	10.7%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹15 Cr	₹25 Cr	₹26 Cr	₹35 Cr	+33.4%
EPS	—	—	₹3.99	₹6.5	—
ROE	29.4%	32.9%	25.4%	11.4%	—
ROCE	40.6%	41.6%	36.1%	17.4%	—
Total Debt	₹25 Cr	₹45 Cr	₹80 Cr	₹98 Cr	+57.0%
Free Cash Flow	-₹2 Cr	-₹15 Cr	-₹28 Cr	-₹109 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 17.1% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 38.7% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from 6.4% to 10.7% over 3 years (+4.3 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 33.4% a year over 3 years.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 29.4% to 11.4% over 3 years (-18.0 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 40.6% to 17.4% over 3 years (-23.1 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 57.0% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹625 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹315 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹5 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

-₹70 Cr

Capex

-₹39 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

78.8%

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
TATA STEEL LIMITED	19.8x	10.8%
JSW STEEL LIMITED	12.0x	24.7%
ULTRATECH CEMENT LIMITED	37.6x	11.1%
ASIAN PAINTS LIMITED	46.9x	22.3%

Recent News

1 positive5 general

If EPS Growth Is Important To You, Advance Agrolife (NSE:ADVANCE) Presents An Opportunity

Simply Wall Street, 14 Oct

ADVANCE Stock Price and Chart — NSE:ADVANCE

TradingView, 14 Jul

Price Band Hitters, October 13, 2026 at 3:30 PM IST: Advance Agrolife Leads The List

HDFC Sky, 13 Oct

ADVANCE AGROLIFE LIMITED Share Price

Upstox, 05 May

Advance Agrolife Limited (ADVANCE.NS) Edges Lower on NSE, Tests Support Zone Near ₹114 - Standard Deviation

https://www.siam.in/, 29 Sept

Advance Agrolife Q1FY27 profit surges 152% to ₹225.5 million on revenue growth

scanx.trade, 06 AugResults

🟢Potentially positiveReported improvement. Check whether it came from volume, price or a one-off item before treating it as a trend.

Watch Items

Trading very close to its 52-week high — momentum-driven entries here carry more mean-reversion risk.
Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.
RSI is in overbought territory — momentum entries here carry more short-term pullback risk.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongFinancial Health · Growth · Valuation

MiddlingProfitability

WeakBusiness Quality · Risk

Points for each in the Score ↑

Unremarkable in both directions

A reasonable business at a reasonable price. Nothing here is alarming and nothing is compelling, which usually means the decision rests on things this data cannot see — the industry's direction, management's intent, and what else is available to you. 4 high-severity red flags sit above this conclusion and should be read first.

1 of 5 tripwires tripped — Free cash flow remains positive · see Key things to watch ↑