Associated Coaters Limited

Industrials — Specialty Business Services · BSE

₹96.50₹0.00 (0.00%)

DalalBaazaar Score

70 / 100

🟢 Good

Verdict

REASONABLE

Risk

High

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

In simple words: Strong business and financial position, with modest growth. Nothing obvious stands out as stretched — the usual checks on business quality and management still apply.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:46 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Associated Coaters Limited engages in the provision of pre-treatment and powder coating services for aluminum extrusions in India.

IndustrySpecialty Business Services

SectorIndustrials

Employees13

Annual revenue₹8 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹8 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹14 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹21 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 13 employees supports ₹63.6 lakh of revenue a year, the signature of a people-led business.

Revenue / employee₹63.6 lakh

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD., SIEMENS LTD, ABB INDIA 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 18.8% 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 ROE15.2%

What has been driving growth?

Growth has come mainly from selling more, rather than from keeping more of each sale. Over 3 years revenue moved +130% while net margin moved -8% 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+130%

Margin effect-8%

DalalBaazaar Score

70/ 100

Good

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

• Beta of 0.89 — moves roughly with the market
✗ Micro Cap: thinner liquidity and sharper drawdowns are normal

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

74/ 100

Good

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

Valuation

79/ 100

Cheap

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

A good business currently available at an undemanding price — the combination this framework is built to look for.

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

11.4x

3Y Median

13.8x

30 monthly readings · mean 18.7x · range 10.5x–51.7x

Sector Median

88.8x

median of 3 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 17% below its 3y median of 13.8x. 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 87% below the peer median of 88.8x.

vs. its own history

Fair

13.8x median over 30 months · -17%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

88.8x median of 3 peers · -87%

vs. generic bands

Cheap

Below 15x

EV/EBITDA

6.7x

PEG

0.40

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well1

Consistently profitable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years.

🔴 What Needs Attention3

Margins are compressing
EBITDA margin has slipped from 22.5% to 20.9% over 3 years.
Return on equity is falling
ROE has dropped from 77.2% to 14.6% — each rupee of shareholder capital earns less than it did.
Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from 90.3% to 18.8% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.

Red Flags

2 items require attention · 1 high · 1 watch

🔴Inventory building faster than salesFinancial
Inventory up 917% against revenue up 130% — stock may not be moving.
🟡Receivables growing faster than salesFinancial
Receivables up 152% against revenue up 130% — sales are being booked faster than they are collected.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Capital compounds at a high rate
ROCE of 18.8% 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.
Cheaper than its peers
It trades 87% 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?

Margins are being competed away
EBITDA margin has fallen from 22.5% to 20.9%. If the trend continues, profit falls even on flat sales — and margin decline rarely reverses quickly.
Sales are being booked faster than collected
Receivables are up 152% against revenue up 130%. 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 77.2% to 14.6%. 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.

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

1Revenue growth stays above 24% a year✓ 32.0% CAGR
Latest reported year was 36.6%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above 19%✓ 20.9%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹1 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 0.1x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
5ROCE stays above 16%✓ 18.8%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

9 / 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

6 good · 5 neutral · 0 weak

Market Cap

₹13 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

11.4x

Cheap

Cheap against the generic band

P/B Ratio

1.67x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹8.47

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

15.7%

Strong

Strong capital efficiency

ROCE

18.8%

Strong

Earns comfortably above its likely cost of capital

Debt/Equity

1.26x

Moderate

Moderate leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

36.6%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

0.9%

Modest

Slow profit growth

Dividend Yield

None

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

Free Cash Flow

₹0 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

ROA

8.8%

Good

Assets are working hard

Operating Margin

14.5%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

13.9%

Good

Strong bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

2.46

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.89

Market-like

Moves roughly in line with the market

52W Range Position

51%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

98.4 / 103.3

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	₹4 Cr	₹5 Cr	₹6 Cr	₹8 Cr	+32.0%
EBITDA	₹1 Cr	₹2 Cr	₹2 Cr	₹2 Cr	+28.7%
EBITDA Margin	22.5%	28.5%	28.6%	20.9%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹1 Cr	₹1 Cr	₹1 Cr	₹1 Cr	+28.2%
EPS	₹4.02	₹7.3	₹7.85	—	—
ROE	77.2%	59.5%	15.7%	14.6%	—
ROCE	90.3%	66.8%	20.9%	18.8%	—
Total Debt	₹0 Cr	₹0 Cr	₹0 Cr	₹0 Cr	+0.0%
Free Cash Flow	₹1 Cr	₹0 Cr	-₹2 Cr	₹1 Cr	-1.3%

🟢 Revenue has grown at 32.0% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 28.7% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA Margin has fallen from 22.5% to 20.9% over 3 years (-1.7 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 28.2% a year over 3 years.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 77.2% to 14.6% over 3 years (-62.6 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 90.3% to 18.8% over 3 years (-71.6 pts).

🟡 Total Debt has been broadly flat over 3 years (0.0% a year).

🟡 Free Cash Flow has been broadly flat over 3 years (-1.3% a year).

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹10 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹3 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹2 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹1 Cr

Capex

-₹1 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

71.7%

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD.	30.1x	15.2%
SIEMENS LTD	88.8x	10.5%
ABB INDIA LIMITED	92.6x	19.1%

Recent News

6 general

Associated Coaters Limited Share Price

Upstox, 05 May

Associated Coaters shareholders approve FY26 financials at ninth AGM

scanx.trade, 25 Sept

List of 774 Paints and Coatings Startups in India & Market Trends (Oct 2026)

Tracxn, 01 Oct

Associated Coaters Limited IPO Date, Price, GMP, Review, Detail

IndiaIPO, 30 May

BRIGHTBR Stock Price and Chart — NSE:BRIGHTBR

TradingView, 12 Aug

Aimtron Electronics shares make stellar stock market debut; list with 50% premium at ₹241 on NSE SME

Livemint, 06 Jun

Watch Items

Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongBusiness Quality · Financial Health · Growth · Valuation

MiddlingProfitability

WeakRisk

Points for each in the Score ↑

Attractive on both counts

A good business currently available at an undemanding price — the combination this framework exists to look for. The work left is qualitative: whether the advantage the numbers imply is one you can identify and expect to last. 1 high-severity red flag sits above this conclusion and should be read first.

All 5 tripwires holding · see Key things to watch ↑