Associated Ceramics Limited

Basic Materials — Building Materials · BSE

₹164.00+₹6.00 (+3.80%)

DalalBaazaar Score

43 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

Moderate

Driven by micro-cap size, which brings thin liquidity, falling profits.

In simple words: Reasonable but unspectacular business quality, though profits are falling even as sales grow. The direction of profits is the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 8:27 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Associated Ceramics Limited manufactures and sells refractory products in India. It is also involved in the potter activities; sell and purchase of minerals and mineral products; and deals in cements, lime, and stone.

IndustryBuilding Materials

SectorBasic Materials

Annual revenue₹44 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹44 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹5 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹13 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation.

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are ULTRATECH CEMENT LIMITED, GRASIM INDUSTRIES LTD, AMBUJA CEMENTS LTD, SHREE CEMENT 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?Little sign of one

Returns on capital of 10.7% 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 ROE7.4%

What has been driving growth?

Profit has moved mainly because margins changed, not because the business sold much more. Over 3 years revenue moved -21% while net margin moved -43% 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-21%

Margin effect-43%

DalalBaazaar Score

43/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Revenue has contracted at 7.5% a year
✗ Profit has declined at 23.1% a year
✗ Profit fell 3.8% in the latest year

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

42/ 100

Weak

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

Valuation

74/ 100

Cheap

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

Optically cheap, but the underlying business scores poorly. Cheap-and-weak is what a value trap looks like from the outside — the low price may be deserved.

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

19.0x

3Y Median

20.5x

40 monthly readings · mean 31.8x · range 6.8x–74.7x

Sector Median

36.2x

median of 4 sector peers

🟡Currently trading close to its 3y median of 20.5x — the market is paying about what it usually pays for this company.

🟢Against its sector it trades 47% below the peer median of 36.2x.

vs. its own history

Fair

20.5x median over 40 months · -7%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

36.2x median of 4 peers · -47%

vs. generic bands

Fair

15x–35x

EV/EBITDA

6.2x

PEG

—

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well4

Debt is being paid down
Total debt is down 50% over 3 years.
Cash flow has turned positive
Free cash flow moved from negative to positive over 3 years.
Very low debt
Debt/Equity of 0.12x leaves the balance sheet with plenty of headroom.
Consistently profitable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years.

🔴 What Needs Attention2

Return on equity is falling
ROE has dropped from 22.2% to 8.1% — each rupee of shareholder capital earns less than it did.
Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from 21.3% to 10.7% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.

Red Flags

1 item require attention · 1 watch

🟡Profit is decliningFinancial
Net profit is down 55% over 3 years.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Deleveraging frees up earnings
Debt is down 50% over 3 years. Every rupee of interest not paid drops to the bottom line, so profit can grow even if revenue does not.
Cheaper than its peers
It trades 47% below the sector median. Either the market sees a problem the numbers do not show, or the discount closes.
Self-funding with balance-sheet headroom
Positive free cash flow of ₹2 Cr alongside low debt means growth, buybacks or dividends need no outside money — and a downturn can be absorbed rather than refinanced.
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?

Returns on shareholder capital are falling
ROE has dropped from 22.2% to 8.1%. 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.
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 11%✓ 13.4%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹2 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
3Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 0.5x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
4ROCE stays above 8%✓ 10.7%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.
5Valuation vs its own median of 20.5x✓ 19.0x today
A re-rating above its own history needs a reason; without one it is just a higher price.

Investment Checklist

6 / 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 · 7 neutral · 1 weak

Market Cap

₹34 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

19.0x

Fair

Fairly valued against the generic band

P/B Ratio

Not available

No data

Source didn't return this field

EPS (TTM)

₹8.61

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

8.1%

Moderate

Moderate capital efficiency

ROCE

10.7%

Moderate

Moderate return on the capital in the business

Debt/Equity

0.12x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

5.1%

Modest

Modest growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

-3.8%

Falling

Profits are shrinking

Dividend Yield

None

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

Free Cash Flow

₹2 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

Operating Margin

0.0%

Weak

Thin margins leave little room for error

Net Margin

0.0%

Weak

Very little revenue reaches the bottom line

Current Ratio

1.39

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

52W Range Position

23%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

156.2 / 160.8

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

53.7

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹56 Cr	₹40 Cr	₹42 Cr	₹44 Cr	-7.5%
EBITDA	₹8 Cr	₹5 Cr	₹7 Cr	₹6 Cr	-10.6%
EBITDA Margin	14.8%	13.3%	15.7%	13.4%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹5 Cr	₹1 Cr	₹2 Cr	₹2 Cr	-23.1%
EPS	₹22.38	₹4.19	₹10.56	₹10.16	-23.1%
ROE	22.2%	4.0%	9.2%	8.1%	—
ROCE	21.3%	9.2%	14.5%	10.7%	—
Total Debt	₹6 Cr	₹7 Cr	₹2 Cr	₹3 Cr	-20.6%
Free Cash Flow	-₹7 Cr	₹13 Cr	₹5 Cr	₹2 Cr	—

🔴 Revenue has shrunk at 7.5% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA has shrunk at 10.6% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA Margin has fallen from 14.8% to 13.4% over 3 years (-1.5 pts).

🔴 PAT (Net Profit) has shrunk at 23.1% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EPS has shrunk at 23.1% a year over 3 years.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 22.2% to 8.1% over 3 years (-14.1 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 21.3% to 10.7% over 3 years (-10.6 pts).

🟢 Total Debt has shrunk at 20.6% a year over 3 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has turned positive, from -₹7 Cr to ₹2 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹39 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹13 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹0 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹2 Cr

Capex

-₹1 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

83.1%

Corporate Actions

Ex-Dividend Date

16 Sept 1997

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
ULTRATECH CEMENT LIMITED	37.6x	11.1%
GRASIM INDUSTRIES LTD	34.8x	5.5%
AMBUJA CEMENTS LTD	20.4x	7.4%
SHREE CEMENT LIMITED	49.7x	7.0%

Recent News

1 positive1 mixed4 general

Associated Ceramics Ltd. Peer Comparison – Compare with Others

Value Research, 30 Aug

Associated Ceramics discloses AGM voting results; all resolutions passed

scanx.trade, 30 SeptResults

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

Associated Cera Standalone June 2026 Net Sales at Rs 9.06 crore, down 29.25% Y-o-Y

Moneycontrol.com, 17 Sept

Somany Ceramics Share Price: yearly high with sector context

Univest, 05 Oct

Associated Ceramics delists from Calcutta Stock Exchange on Aug 5

scanx.trade, 05 Aug

600% dividend stock: Check amount per share, record date, payment timeline - Do you own?

Livemint, 21 SeptCapital return

🟢Potentially positiveCash or shares returned to holders. A buyback is only good value if the shares were cheap when bought.

Watch Items

Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.
1 metric couldn't be retrieved for this stock — this is more common for smaller or thinly-covered listings.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongFinancial Health

MiddlingValuation

WeakBusiness Quality · Growth · Profitability · Risk

Points for each in the Score ↑

Cheap, but for a reason

The low price is the whole case here, and the business underneath scores poorly. Cheap-and-weak is what a value trap looks like from the outside — it needs a specific reason the numbers are about to improve, not just the observation that they are low.

All 5 tripwires holding · see Key things to watch ↑