Best Agrolife Limited

Basic Materials — Agricultural Inputs · NSE

₹16.59−₹0.18 (−1.07%)

DalalBaazaar Score

44 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

Moderate

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

In simple words: The business is earning a fairly low return on the money invested in it, with modest growth. Thin profit margins are the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:47 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Best Agrolife Limited engages in the manufacture and sale of agrochemical products in India and internationally.

IndustryAgricultural Inputs

SectorBasic Materials

Employees454

Annual revenue₹1,248 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹1,248 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹1 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹8 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 454 employees supports ₹2.75 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹2.75 Cr

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 7.0% 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 -29% while net margin moved -94% 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-29%

Margin effect-94%

DalalBaazaar Score

44/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Revenue has contracted at 10.6% a year
✗ Profit has declined at 64.1% a year

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

36/ 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

14.2x

3Y Median

12.2x

40 monthly readings · mean 16.4x · range 5.7x–70.1x

Sector Median

28.7x

median of 4 sector peers

⚠️Current valuation is approximately 17% above its 3y median of 12.2x. Paying more than usual needs a reason — faster growth, a better balance sheet, or a re-rating you believe in.

🟢Against its sector it trades 51% below the peer median of 28.7x.

vs. its own history

Fair

12.2x median over 40 months · +17%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

28.7x median of 4 peers · -51%

vs. generic bands

Cheap

Below 15x

EV/EBITDA

10.0x

PEG

—

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well3

Debt is being paid down
Total debt is down 22% 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 Attention2

Return on equity is falling
ROE has dropped from 36.4% to 1.2% — each rupee of shareholder capital earns less than it did.
Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from 49.3% to 7.0% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.

Red Flags

5 items require attention · 3 high · 2 watch

🔴Thin interest coverageFinancial
Operating profit covers interest only 1.2x — little room if earnings dip.
🔴Significant margin compressionFinancial
EBITDA margin has fallen 9.9 points, from 17.8% to 8.0%.
🔴Receivables growing faster than salesFinancial
Receivables up 40% against revenue up -29% — sales are being booked faster than they are collected.
🟡Interest coverage is deterioratingFinancial
Cover has fallen from 2.6x to 1.2x.
🟡Profit is decliningFinancial
Net profit is down 95% over 3 years.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Deleveraging frees up earnings
Debt is down 22% 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 51% 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 17.8% to 8.0%. If the trend continues, profit falls even on flat sales — and margin decline rarely reverses quickly.
The debt load needs earnings to hold up
Debt is 4.4x EBITDA. At that level a downturn in earnings turns a manageable balance sheet into a refinancing problem, and lenders get paid before shareholders.
Sales are being booked faster than collected
Receivables are up 40% against revenue up -29%. 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 36.4% to 1.2%. 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

1EBITDA margin holds above 6%✓ 8.0%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x✗ 4.4x
Already stretched, so this is a reduction target rather than a level to hold. Around 3x is where lenders typically start attaching conditions.
3Interest cover stays above 3x✗ 1.2x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.
4Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹90 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
5ROCE stays above 8%✗ 7.0%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

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

6 good · 3 neutral · 2 weak

Market Cap

₹588 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

14.2x

Cheap

Cheap against the generic band

P/B Ratio

0.77x

Reasonable

Reasonable against the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹1.17

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

1.2%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

7.0%

Weak

Low return on total capital employed

Debt/Equity

0.58x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

3.9%

Modest

Modest growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

104.9%

Healthy

Profits growing at a healthy clip

Dividend Yield

0.60%

Modest

Small cash return — most of the return has to come from the price

Free Cash Flow

₹90 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

Operating Margin

17.2%

Good

Healthy core-business profitability

Net Margin

2.3%

Weak

Very little revenue reaches the bottom line

Current Ratio

1.53

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.05

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

19%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

17.6 / 18.3

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

25.9

Oversold zone

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹1,746 Cr	₹1,873 Cr	₹1,809 Cr	₹1,248 Cr	-10.6%
EBITDA	₹312 Cr	₹225 Cr	₹199 Cr	₹100 Cr	-31.6%
EBITDA Margin	17.8%	12.0%	11.0%	8.0%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹192 Cr	₹106 Cr	₹70 Cr	₹9 Cr	-64.1%
EPS	₹5.42	₹3	₹1.97	₹0.25	-64.1%
ROE	36.4%	16.4%	9.2%	1.2%	—
ROCE	49.3%	27.2%	19.3%	7.0%	—
Total Debt	₹568 Cr	₹637 Cr	₹478 Cr	₹442 Cr	-8.0%
Free Cash Flow	-₹218 Cr	-₹10 Cr	₹207 Cr	₹90 Cr	—

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

🔴 EBITDA has shrunk at 31.6% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA Margin has fallen from 17.8% to 8.0% over 3 years (-9.9 pts).

🔴 PAT (Net Profit) has shrunk at 64.1% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EPS has shrunk at 64.1% a year over 3 years.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 36.4% to 1.2% over 3 years (-35.3 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 49.3% to 7.0% over 3 years (-42.3 pts).

🟢 Total Debt has shrunk at 8.0% a year over 3 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has turned positive, from -₹218 Cr to ₹90 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹1,686 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹918 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹34 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹97 Cr

Capex

-₹8 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

6.3%

Insider Holding

60.8%

Corporate Actions

Dividend Rate

₹0.1

Ex-Dividend Date

22 Sept 2026

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

1 positive1 mixed4 general

Best Agrolife Limited (BESTAGRO.BO) Stock Price, News, Quote & History

Yahoo! Finance Canada, 01 Oct

Best Agrolife FY26 profit falls 87%, recommends dividend

scanx.trade, 04 OctCapital return

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

Best Agrolife soars after Q1 PAT jumps over two-fold to Rs 41 cr

Business Standard, 04 AugResults

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

Best Agrolife Share Price: Buy or Sell

Univest, 09 Sept

Best Agrolife Ltd. Key Financial Ratios – Valuation, Profitability & More

Value Research, 01 Sept

ADVANCE Stock Price and Chart — NSE:ADVANCE

TradingView, 14 Jul

Watch Items

Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.
RSI is in oversold territory — could mean either a bargain or a stock still falling for good reason. Check the 'why' before assuming reversal.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongFinancial Health · Valuation

MiddlingRisk

WeakBusiness Quality · Growth · Profitability

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

3 of 5 tripwires tripped — Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x; Interest cover stays above 3x; ROCE stays above 8% · see Key things to watch ↑