Aplab Limited

Industrials — Electrical Equipment & Parts · BSE

₹64.42−₹4.38 (−6.37%)

DalalBaazaar Score

49 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

Very High

Driven by moderate debt load, the company is currently loss-making, micro-cap size, which brings thin liquidity.

In simple words: The company is currently losing money, 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, 6:02 pm

Caution warranted. Multiple fundamental metrics — flagged in red below — point to either valuation stretch, leverage risk, or weakening profitability. This doesn't mean avoid the stock outright, but it does mean the burden of proof is on the growth story to justify the current price.

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Aplab Limited engages in the manufacture, marketing, sale, and service of electronic equipment in India and internationally. The company provides UPS systems, including industrial and online UPS systems, inverters, static frequency converters, and MIL grade UPS systems.

IndustryElectrical Equipment & Parts

SectorIndustrials

Employees152

Annual revenue₹58 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹58 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹4 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹12 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 152 employees supports ₹38.4 lakh of revenue a year, the signature of a people-led business.

EBITDA margin12.2%

Net margin4.3%

Revenue / employee₹38.4 lakh

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are SIEMENS LTD, ABB INDIA LIMITED, HAVELLS INDIA LIMITED. These are the companies its valuation and returns are measured against elsewhere in this report.

SIEMENS LTDP/E 88.8x · ROE 10.5%

ABB INDIA LIMITEDP/E 92.6x · ROE 19.1%

HAVELLS INDIA LIMITEDP/E 43.5x · ROE 17.1%

What is its competitive advantage?Some evidence

ROCE of 19.6% is above what capital typically costs, which suggests some pricing power, though not yet the sustained, wide gap that marks a durable advantage.

ROCE19.6%

ROE12.6%

Peer median ROE17.1%

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 +983% 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+983%

DalalBaazaar Score

49/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

• ROE of 12.6% is moderate

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

54/ 100

Average

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

Valuation

25/ 100

Expensive

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.

vs. its own history

Not enough price and earnings history

vs. sector peers

Not enough peers with a usable P/E

vs. generic bands

N/A

No P/E — the company is lossmaking

P/E (Trailing)

Not meaningful

P/B

4.76x

EV/EBITDA

35.9x

PEG

—

Dividend Yield

None

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well3

Debt is being paid down
Total debt is down 63% over 3 years.
Cash flow has turned positive
Free cash flow moved from negative to positive over 3 years.
Consistently profitable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years.

🔴 What Needs Attention0

Nothing stands out as clearly deteriorating on the years of data available.

Red Flags

1 item require attention · 1 watch

🟡Shareholders have been dilutedOwnership
Shares outstanding are up 54% over 3 years — each existing share owns a smaller slice of the company.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Capital compounds at a high rate
ROCE of 19.6% means each rupee reinvested earns well above what capital costs. If the company can keep deploying at this rate, growth creates value rather than just consuming cash.
Deleveraging frees up earnings
Debt is down 63% over 3 years. Every rupee of interest not paid drops to the bottom line, so profit can grow even if revenue does not.
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?

Growth barely outpaces inflation
Revenue compounding at 4.3% a year is close to the rate prices rise, so the business is gaining little ground in real terms. That leaves the share price dependent on a re-rating rather than on earnings growth.
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 10%✓ 12.2%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✗ 2.6x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
3Interest cover stays above 3x✗ 2.6x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.
4Revenue growth stays above 4% a year✓ 4.3% CAGR
Latest reported year was -37.8%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
5Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹11 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.

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

3 good · 5 neutral · 3 weak

Market Cap

₹243 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

Not meaningful

Loss-making

Earnings are negative, so a P/E multiple can't be read here

P/B Ratio

4.76x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹-0.63

Loss-making

Negative earnings per share — the business is losing money

ROE

12.6%

Moderate

Moderate capital efficiency

ROCE

19.6%

Strong

Earns comfortably above its likely cost of capital

Debt/Equity

0.94x

Moderate

Moderate leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

-37.8%

Shrinking

Sales are contracting

Profit Growth (YoY)

853.7%

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

₹11 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

CMP

₹64.42

Operating Margin

-27.8%

Weak

Thin margins leave little room for error

Net Margin

-1.6%

Weak

Very little revenue reaches the bottom line

Current Ratio

1.27

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

1.04

Market-like

Moves roughly in line with the market

52W Range Position

14%

Near low

Near its 52-week low

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

69.9 / 72.7

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

32.4

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹51 Cr	₹50 Cr	₹64 Cr	₹58 Cr	+4.3%
EBITDA	₹6 Cr	₹5 Cr	₹0 Cr	₹7 Cr	+4.6%
EBITDA Margin	12.1%	10.4%	0.4%	12.2%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹0 Cr	₹1 Cr	₹0 Cr	₹3 Cr	+130.8%
EPS	₹0.12	₹0.35	₹0.14	₹1.69	+139.6%
ROE	—	7.9%	2.5%	12.6%	—
ROCE	—	21.8%	-14.8%	19.6%	—
Total Debt	₹50 Cr	₹26 Cr	₹30 Cr	₹19 Cr	-28.1%
Free Cash Flow	-₹4 Cr	-₹0 Cr	₹1 Cr	₹11 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 4.3% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 4.6% a year over 3 years.

🟡 EBITDA Margin has held roughly flat at 12.2% over 3 years.

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 130.8% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EPS has grown at 139.6% a year over 3 years.

🟢 ROE has risen from 7.9% to 12.6% over 3 years (+4.7 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 21.8% to 19.6% over 3 years (-2.2 pts).

🟢 Total Debt has shrunk at 28.1% a year over 3 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has turned positive, from -₹4 Cr to ₹11 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹58 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹38 Cr

Total Debt

₹19 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹6 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹14 Cr

Capex

-₹3 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

72.1%

Corporate Actions

Ex-Dividend Date

16 Jun 2009

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
SIEMENS LTD	88.8x	10.5%
ABB INDIA LIMITED	92.6x	19.1%
HAVELLS INDIA LIMITED	43.5x	17.1%

Recent News

4 mixed2 general

Aplab Share Price Fall: Price Action and Fundamentals

Univest, 16 OctPrice move

🟡Mixed / dependsA price move rather than a change in the business. If the figures on this page have not moved, the fall is either an opportunity or news they have yet to catch up with.

APLAB - Comparison Results

Equitymaster, 16 OctResults

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

APLAB returns to profitability with ₹251.67 crore net profit in FY26

scanx.trade, 26 May

Aplab Share Price Falls 8.29%: Stock News

Univest, 22 SeptPrice move

🟡Mixed / dependsA price move rather than a change in the business. If the figures on this page have not moved, the fall is either an opportunity or news they have yet to catch up with.

Aplab appoints new Executive Director and CFO from June 1

scanx.trade, 27 May

Aplab Ltd. Share Price Rises 10%: Price Action Analysis

Univest, 18 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.

Watch Items

Revenue growth is negative (-37.8%) 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

🟡Business QualityAdequate10/20

🟢Financial HealthStrong14.4/20

🟡GrowthModest11.3/20

🔴ProfitabilityWeak4.7/15

🔴ValuationDemanding5.1/15

🔴RiskHigh3.6/10

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.

This thesis breaks if

✓EBITDA margin holds above 10%12.2%
✗Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x2.6x
✗Interest cover stays above 3x2.6x
✓Revenue growth stays above 4% a year4.3% CAGR
✓Free cash flow remains positive₹11 Cr