Astron Multigrain Limited

Consumer Defensive — Packaged Foods · BSE

₹17.09−₹1.90 (−10.01%)

DalalBaazaar Score

65 / 100

🟢 Good

Verdict

REASONABLE

Risk

High

Driven by negative free cash flow, micro-cap size, which brings thin liquidity.

In simple words: Strong business and financial position, with both sales and profits growing well. Cash generation is currently the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 8:28 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Astron Multigrain Limited produces and sells instant noodles, papads, seasoning products, and noodle under the Astron's Swagy Noodles brand name in India. It operates through ready-to-eat / instant noodles segment. The company also engages in contract manufacturing services.

IndustryPackaged Foods

SectorConsumer Defensive

Employees7

Annual revenue₹48 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹48 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹7 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹11 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 7 employees supports ₹6.91 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹6.91 Cr

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are NESTLE INDIA LIMITED, BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES LTD, TATA CONSUMER PRODUCT LTD, DABUR INDIA 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?Some evidence

ROCE of 17.3% 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 ROE51.0%

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 +148% while net margin moved +12% 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+148%

Margin effect+12%

DalalBaazaar Score

65/ 100

Good

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Micro Cap: thinner liquidity and sharper drawdowns are normal
✗ Negative free cash flow means dependence on external funding

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

66/ 100

Good

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

Valuation

88/ 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

4.3x

1.0Y Median

6.4x

12 monthly readings · mean 6.5x · range 5.8x–8.2x

Sector Median

51.7x

median of 4 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 33% below its 1.0y median of 6.4x. 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 92% below the peer median of 51.7x.

vs. its own history

Cheap

6.4x median over 12 months · -33%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

51.7x median of 4 peers · -92%

vs. generic bands

Cheap

Below 15x

EV/EBITDA

3.1x

PEG

0.10

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well2

Debt is being paid down
Total debt is down 63% over 3 years.
Consistently profitable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years.

🔴 What Needs Attention2

Return on equity is falling
ROE has dropped from 32.5% to 12.7% — each rupee of shareholder capital earns less than it did.
Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from 27.8% to 17.3% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.

Red Flags

4 items require attention · 2 high · 2 watch

🔴Profit up while operating cash flow fallsFinancial
Reported profit rose but cash generated by operations declined — worth checking whether earnings are being supported by non-cash items or working capital.
🔴Receivables growing faster than salesFinancial
Receivables up 1404% against revenue up 148% — sales are being booked faster than they are collected.
🟡Free cash flow is negativeFinancial
Free cash flow was -₹12 Cr in the latest year.
🟡Margins are compressingFinancial
EBITDA margin is down 2.2 points over 3 years.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

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.
Priced below its own history
The stock trades 33% 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 92% 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 13.2% to 11.0%. 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 1404% against revenue up 148%. 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 32.5% to 12.7%. 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.
Several serious flags at once
2 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

1Revenue growth stays above 27% a year✓ 35.4% CAGR
Latest reported year was 42.8%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above 9%✓ 11.0%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹12 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 0.5x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
5ROCE stays above 14%✓ 17.3%
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

7 good · 3 neutral · 1 weak

Market Cap

₹15 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

4.3x

Cheap

Cheap against the generic band

P/B Ratio

0.54x

Reasonable

Reasonable against the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹4.01

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

18.3%

Strong

Strong capital efficiency

ROCE

17.3%

Strong

Earns comfortably above its likely cost of capital

Debt/Equity

0.61x

Moderate

Moderate leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

42.8%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

48.7%

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

-₹10 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

ROA

10.0%

Good

Assets are working hard

Operating Margin

8.0%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

7.1%

Average

Average bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

2.71

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

52W Range Position

Near low

Near its 52-week low

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

17.4 / 17.4

Bullish alignment (short > long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

45.2

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹19 Cr	₹26 Cr	₹34 Cr	₹48 Cr	+35.4%
EBITDA	₹3 Cr	₹4 Cr	₹4 Cr	₹5 Cr	+27.5%
EBITDA Margin	13.2%	14.3%	12.0%	11.0%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹1 Cr	₹2 Cr	₹2 Cr	₹3 Cr	+40.7%
EPS	₹1.44	₹2.31	₹2.7	—	—
ROE	32.5%	24.2%	22.0%	12.7%	—
ROCE	27.8%	31.1%	29.7%	17.3%	—
Total Debt	₹7 Cr	₹5 Cr	₹4 Cr	₹2 Cr	-28.5%
Free Cash Flow	₹1 Cr	-₹0 Cr	₹1 Cr	-₹12 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 35.4% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 27.5% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA Margin has fallen from 13.2% to 11.0% over 3 years (-2.2 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 40.7% a year over 3 years.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 32.5% to 12.7% over 3 years (-19.7 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 27.8% to 17.3% over 3 years (-10.5 pts).

🟢 Total Debt has shrunk at 28.5% a year over 3 years.

🔴 Free Cash Flow has turned negative, from ₹1 Cr to -₹12 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹37 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹10 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹0 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

-₹7 Cr

Capex

-₹4 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

66.0%

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
NESTLE INDIA LIMITED	59.8x	79.9%
BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES LTD	44.1x	51.0%
TATA CONSUMER PRODUCT LTD	59.3x	7.5%
DABUR INDIA LTD	34.7x	17.2%

Recent News

1 mixed5 general

Compare SUNIL AGRO F with

Equitymaster, 17 Oct

Astron Multigrain Limited Share Price - Live ASTRONMULT Stock Price & Chart

Upstox, 05 May

Astron Multigrain share price slumps 24% from issue price after weak listing

Livemint, 08 DecPrice 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.

Weak listing: Astron Multigrain shares list at 20% discount to SME IPO price

Moneycontrol.com, 08 Dec

Astron Multigrain IPO to debut today. Here's what GMP suggests ahead of listing

The Economic Times, 08 Dec

Astron Multigrain IPO Date, Review, Price, Allotment Details

IPO Watch, 09 Dec

Watch Items

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

StrongFinancial Health · Growth · Valuation

MiddlingProfitability

WeakBusiness Quality · Risk

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. 2 high-severity red flags sit above this conclusion and should be read first.

1 of 5 tripwires tripped — Free cash flow remains positive · see Key things to watch ↑