Apex Frozen Foods Limited

Consumer Defensive — Farm Products · NSE

₹338.30+₹0.75 (+0.22%)

DalalBaazaar Score

51 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

NEUTRAL

Risk

Moderate

Driven by moderate debt load, micro-cap size, which brings thin liquidity.

In simple words: The business is earning a fairly low return on the money invested in it, but sales are shrinking. Whether sales start growing again is the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 6:57 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Apex Frozen Foods Limited engages in the farming, processing, production, and sale of shrimps in India.

IndustryFarm Products

SectorConsumer Defensive

Employees2,068

Annual revenue₹880 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹880 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹4 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹8 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 2,068 employees supports ₹42.6 lakh of revenue a year, the signature of a people-led business.

Revenue / employee₹42.6 lakh

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LTD., ITC LTD, NESTLE INDIA LIMITED, BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES LTD. 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?Little sign of one

Returns on capital of 10.6% are at or below what the capital likely costs. That is the financial pattern of a business competing largely on price, where advantage has to come from execution rather than position.

Peer median ROE51.0%

What has been driving growth?

Profit has moved mainly because margins changed, not because the business sold much more. Over 3 years revenue moved -13% while net margin moved +24% 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-13%

Margin effect+24%

DalalBaazaar Score

51/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Revenue has contracted at 4.5% a year
✗ Profit CAGR of only 2.7%

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

48/ 100

Average

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

Valuation

67/ 100

Fair

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

20.6x

3Y Median

50.5x

40 monthly readings · mean 103.8x · range 17.2x–376.5x

Sector Median

43.3x

median of 4 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 59% below its 3y median of 50.5x. 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 52% below the peer median of 43.3x.

vs. its own history

Cheap

50.5x median over 40 months · -59%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

43.3x median of 4 peers · -52%

vs. generic bands

Fair

15x–35x

EV/EBITDA

14.5x

PEG

7.65

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well2

Debt is being paid down
Total debt is down 94% over 3 years.
Consistently profitable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years.

🔴 What Needs Attention1

Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from 12.9% to 10.6% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.

Red Flags

No automated checks triggered

None of the automated financial checks below were triggered on the years of data available. That is not the same as a clean bill of health — see what could not be checked.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Deleveraging frees up earnings
Debt is down 94% over 3 years. Every rupee of interest not paid drops to the bottom line, so profit can grow even if revenue does not.
Priced below its own history
The stock trades 59% 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 52% 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?

Earnings are hard to forecast
Profit has swung sharply from year to year, so any single year — good or bad — is a weak guide to the next. Cyclical earnings deserve lower multiples for that reason.
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.

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

1EBITDA margin holds above 6%✓ 8.2%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹89 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
3Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 0.1x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
4ROCE stays above 8%✓ 10.6%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.
5Valuation vs its own median of 50.5x✓ 20.6x today
A re-rating above its own history needs a reason; without one it is just a higher price.

Investment Checklist

5 / 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

3 good · 6 neutral · 2 weak

Market Cap

₹1,057 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

20.6x

Fair

Fairly valued against the generic band

P/B Ratio

2.00x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹16.45

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

7.4%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

10.6%

Moderate

Moderate return on the capital in the business

Debt/Equity

1.07x

Moderate

Moderate leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

-0.6%

Shrinking

Sales are contracting

Profit Growth (YoY)

138.1%

Healthy

Profits growing at a healthy clip

Dividend Yield

0.74%

Modest

Small cash return — most of the return has to come from the price

Free Cash Flow

₹89 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

P/E (Forward)

19.7x

Improving

Below the trailing multiple — the street expects earnings to grow into the price

Operating Margin

10.2%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

5.5%

Average

Average bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

5.96

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.39

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

39%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

341.4 / 365.3

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

45.8

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹1,011 Cr	₹759 Cr	₹766 Cr	₹880 Cr	-4.5%
EBITDA	₹91 Cr	₹49 Cr	₹31 Cr	₹72 Cr	-7.4%
EBITDA Margin	9.0%	6.4%	4.0%	8.2%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹36 Cr	₹15 Cr	₹4 Cr	₹39 Cr	+2.7%
EPS	₹11.48	₹4.67	₹1.24	₹12.43	+2.7%
ROE	7.3%	2.9%	0.8%	7.4%	—
ROCE	12.9%	5.6%	2.8%	10.6%	—
Total Debt	₹91 Cr	₹107 Cr	₹73 Cr	₹6 Cr	-60.3%
Free Cash Flow	₹99 Cr	-₹1 Cr	₹45 Cr	₹89 Cr	-3.3%

🔴 Revenue has shrunk at 4.5% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA has shrunk at 7.4% a year over 3 years.

🟡 EBITDA Margin has held roughly flat at 8.2% over 3 years.

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 2.7% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EPS has grown at 2.7% a year over 3 years.

🟡 ROE has held roughly flat at 7.4% over 3 years.

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 12.9% to 10.6% over 3 years (-2.2 pts).

🟢 Total Debt has shrunk at 60.3% a year over 3 years.

🔴 Free Cash Flow has shrunk at 3.3% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹593 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹65 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹18 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹96 Cr

Capex

-₹7 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

76.8%

Corporate Actions

Dividend Rate

₹2.5

Ex-Dividend Date

10 Sept 2026

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LTD.	42.5x	21.5%
ITC LTD	16.6x	27.4%
NESTLE INDIA LIMITED	59.8x	79.9%
BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES LTD	44.1x	51.0%

Recent News

4 mixed2 general

Apex Frozen Foods Ltd. Shareholding Pattern – Promoters, FIIs & DIIs

Value Research, 16 Oct

We Ran A Stock Scan For Earnings Growth And Apex Frozen Foods (NSE:APEX) Passed With Ease

Simply Wall Street, 09 JunResults

🟡Mixed / dependsA results event. The figures on this page update once the new statements reach the data feed, which usually lags the announcement.

Apex Frozen Foods Share Price Rises 11.95%: Full Analysis

Univest, 14 AugPrice move

🟡Mixed / dependsA price move, which is not by itself a change in the business. Worth finding the cause before reading it as either good or bad.

Concall takeaways: Apex Frozen Food aims at 30% volume growth in FY27; shares rally 40% in 2026

Upstox, 06 JunPrice move

🟡Mixed / dependsA price move, which is not by itself a change in the business. Worth finding the cause before reading it as either good or bad.

Apex Frozen Foods shares hit 20% upper circuit after Q1 profit more than doubles

CNBC TV18, 14 AugResults

🟡Mixed / dependsA results event. The figures on this page update once the new statements reach the data feed, which usually lags the announcement.

Buy Apex Frozen Foods; target of Rs 430: Geojit Financial Services

Moneycontrol.com, 07 Oct

Watch Items

Revenue growth is negative (-0.6%) on the latest reported period — check if this is one-off or a trend.
Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongFinancial Health · Valuation

MiddlingBusiness Quality

WeakGrowth · Profitability · 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.

All 5 tripwires holding · see Key things to watch ↑