Astron Paper & Board Mill Limited

Basic Materials — Paper & Paper Products · BSE

₹2.91+₹0.01 (+0.34%)

DalalBaazaar Score

36 / 100

🔴 Weak

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

Very High

Driven by moderate debt load, short-term liabilities exceed short-term assets, the company is currently loss-making.

In simple words: The company is currently losing money, but sales are shrinking. Short-term liquidity is the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 6:59 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Astron Paper & Board Mill Limited manufactures and sells a range of kraft papers from wastepaper for the packaging industry in India.

IndustryPaper & Paper Products

SectorBasic Materials

Annual revenue₹3 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹3 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹-758 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹-89 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation.

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?Little sign of one

Returns on capital of -10.9% 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 ROE22.3%

What has been driving growth?

Profit has moved mainly because margins changed, not because the business sold much more. Over 3 years revenue moved -99% while net margin moved +12396% 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-99%

Margin effect+12396%

DalalBaazaar Score

36/ 100

Weak

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Revenue has contracted at 80.8% a year
✗ Latest-year revenue growth of -92.4% is below the longer-term trend — momentum is fading

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

33/ 100

Weak

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

Valuation

36/ 100

Expensive

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

Weak on business quality and not cheap enough to compensate.

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

EV/EBITDA

—

PEG

—

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well2

Cash generation is improving
Free cash flow is up 2529% over 3 years.
Return on capital is rising
ROCE has improved from -16.2% to -10.9%.

🔴 What Needs Attention1

Return on equity is falling
ROE has dropped from -15.0% to -31.1% — each rupee of shareholder capital earns less than it did.

Red Flags

4 items require attention · 3 high · 1 watch

🔴Thin interest coverageFinancial
Operating profit covers interest only -0.8x — little room if earnings dip.
🔴The company is lossmakingFinancial
Net profit of -₹21 Cr in the latest reported year.
🔴Significant margin compressionFinancial
EBITDA margin has fallen 83.6 points, from -5.0% to -88.6%.
🟡Short-term liquidity is tightFinancial
Current ratio of 0.58 — near-term obligations exceed near-term assets.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

No clear supporting case emerges from the available numbers.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

Margins are being competed away
EBITDA margin has fallen from -5.0% to -88.6%. If the trend continues, profit falls even on flat sales — and margin decline rarely reverses quickly.
Returns on shareholder capital are falling
ROE has dropped from -15.0% to -31.1%. 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.
Several serious flags at once
3 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

1EBITDA margin holds above -91%✓ -88.6%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Interest cover stays above 3x✗ -0.8x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.
3Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹14 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4ROCE stays above 8%✗ -10.9%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

4 / 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 · 3 neutral · 5 weak

Market Cap

₹14 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

0.20x

Reasonable

Reasonable against the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹-4.56

Loss-making

Negative earnings per share — the business is losing money

ROE

-26.6%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

-10.9%

Weak

Low return on total capital employed

Debt/Equity

1.13x

Moderate

Moderate leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

-92.4%

Shrinking

Sales are contracting

Profit Growth (YoY)

62.6%

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

₹10 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

ROA

-2.9%

Weak

Assets generate little profit

Operating Margin

-5929.4%

Weak

Thin margins leave little room for error

Net Margin

0.0%

Weak

Very little revenue reaches the bottom line

Current Ratio

0.58

Tight

Tight short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.20

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

Near low

Near its 52-week low

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

2.9 / 3.1

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

42.9

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹395 Cr	₹311 Cr	₹96 Cr	₹3 Cr	-80.8%
EBITDA	-₹20 Cr	₹1 Cr	-₹33 Cr	-₹2 Cr	—
EBITDA Margin	-5.0%	0.2%	-34.6%	-88.6%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	-₹24 Cr	-₹11 Cr	-₹57 Cr	-₹21 Cr	—
EPS	₹-5.15	₹-2.41	₹-12.2	₹-4.56	—
ROE	-15.0%	-7.6%	-62.1%	-31.1%	—
ROCE	-16.2%	-4.3%	-36.9%	-10.9%	—
Total Debt	₹84 Cr	₹83 Cr	₹78 Cr	₹77 Cr	-3.0%
Free Cash Flow	₹1 Cr	₹10 Cr	₹4 Cr	₹14 Cr	+197.4%

🔴 Revenue has shrunk at 80.8% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA Margin has fallen from -5.0% to -88.6% over 3 years (-83.6 pts).

🔴 ROE has fallen from -15.0% to -31.1% over 3 years (-16.1 pts).

🟢 ROCE has risen from -16.2% to -10.9% over 3 years (+5.3 pts).

🟢 Total Debt has shrunk at 3.0% a year over 3 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has grown at 197.4% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹203 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹135 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹0 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹14 Cr

Capex

-₹0 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

52.4%

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

2 mixed4 general

Why Is Astron Paper & Board Mill Share Price Falling Key Reasons 2026

Univest, 03 JulPrice 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.

Astron Paper reports ₹1,945.30 Lac FY26 net loss under CIRP

scanx.trade, 26 May

Astron Paper & Board Mill Ltd. Peer Comparison – Compare with Others

Value Research, 31 Aug

Astron Paper and Board Mill: 7 Stock Signals to Watch

Univest, 22 Sept

Astron Paper & Board Mill Limited Submits SEBI Compliance Certificate for Q4 FY26

scanx.trade, 16 AprResults

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

Astron Paper & Board Mill vs Nifty 50: Returns Compared

Univest, 08 Sept

Watch Items

Revenue growth is negative (-92.4%) on the latest reported period — check if this is one-off or a trend.
Trading very close to its 52-week low — worth checking whether this reflects a temporary setback or a structural problem.
Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

MiddlingValuation

WeakBusiness Quality · Financial Health · Growth · Profitability · Risk

Points for each in the Score ↑

Weak on the fundamentals

Poor scores on business quality without a price low enough to compensate. There is no obvious argument for owning this over a stronger company at a similar valuation. 3 high-severity red flags sit above this conclusion and should be read first.

2 of 4 tripwires tripped — Interest cover stays above 3x; ROCE stays above 8% · see Key things to watch ↑