Bharat Wire Ropes Limited

Basic Materials — Steel · NSE

₹163.25+₹0.78 (+0.48%)

DalalBaazaar Score

55 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

High

Driven by high debt relative to equity, micro-cap size, which brings thin liquidity, falling profits.

In simple words: Reasonable but unspectacular business quality, but sales are shrinking. Debt is the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:03 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Bharat Wire Ropes Limited manufactures and sells steel wire ropes in India.

IndustrySteel

SectorBasic Materials

Employees568

Annual revenue₹539 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹539 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹13 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹24 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 568 employees supports ₹94.9 lakh of revenue a year, the signature of a people-led business.

Revenue / employee₹94.9 lakh

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are TATA STEEL LIMITED, JSW STEEL LIMITED, JINDAL STEEL LIMITED, STEEL AUTHORITY OF INDIA. 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 11.4% 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 ROE10.8%

What has been driving growth?

Profit has moved mainly because margins changed, not because the business sold much more. Over 3 years revenue moved -2% while net margin moved +19% 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-2%

Margin effect+19%

DalalBaazaar Score

55/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Revenue has contracted at 0.7% a year
✗ Profit CAGR of only 5.2%
✗ Latest-year revenue growth of -8.0% is below the longer-term trend — momentum is fading
✗ Profit fell 39.5% in the latest year

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

54/ 100

Average

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

Valuation

55/ 100

Fair

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

A reasonable business at a reasonable price — neither the quality nor the valuation stands out in either direction.

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

18.1x

3Y Median

22.1x

40 monthly readings · mean 22.4x · range 10.1x–36.7x

Sector Median

18.2x

median of 4 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 18% below its 3y median of 22.1x. 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 is priced broadly in line with the peer median of 18.2x.

vs. its own history

Fair

22.1x median over 40 months · -18%

vs. sector peers

Fair

18.2x median of 4 peers · -0%

vs. generic bands

Fair

15x–35x

EV/EBITDA

9.3x

PEG

3.48

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well2

Debt is being paid down
Total debt is down 59% over 3 years.
Consistently profitable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years.

🔴 What Needs Attention1

Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from 16.4% to 11.4% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.

Red Flags

2 items require attention · 2 high

🔴High leverageFinancial
Debt/Equity of 9.24x — earnings must service borrowings before shareholders see anything.
🔴Receivables growing faster than salesFinancial
Receivables up 104% against revenue up -2% — sales are being booked faster than they are collected.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Deleveraging frees up earnings
Debt is down 59% over 3 years. Every rupee of interest not paid drops to the bottom line, so profit can grow even if revenue does not.
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?

Leverage amplifies any setback
Debt/Equity of 9.24x. Interest is payable whether or not the business has a good year.
Sales are being booked faster than collected
Receivables are up 104% against revenue up -2%. If customers keep taking longer to pay, reported profit will not turn into cash — and write-offs follow if some never do.
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

1EBITDA margin holds above 22%✓ 23.9%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹24 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
3Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 0.6x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
4ROCE stays above 8%✓ 11.4%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.
5Valuation vs its own median of 22.1x✓ 18.1x today
A re-rating above its own history needs a reason; without one it is just a higher price.

Investment Checklist

5 / 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 · 5 neutral · 3 weak

Market Cap

₹1,123 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

18.1x

Fair

Fairly valued against the generic band

P/B Ratio

1.38x

Reasonable

Reasonable against the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹9.01

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

8.9%

Moderate

Moderate capital efficiency

ROCE

11.4%

Moderate

Moderate return on the capital in the business

Debt/Equity

9.24x

High

High leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

-8.0%

Shrinking

Sales are contracting

Profit Growth (YoY)

-39.5%

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

₹24 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

Operating Margin

14.5%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

11.9%

Good

Strong bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

6.57

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.60

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

13%

Near low

Near its 52-week low

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

166.3 / 176.8

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

48.8

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹550 Cr	₹622 Cr	₹565 Cr	₹539 Cr	-0.7%
EBITDA	₹137 Cr	₹164 Cr	₹133 Cr	₹129 Cr	-2.0%
EBITDA Margin	24.9%	26.3%	23.5%	23.9%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹62 Cr	₹96 Cr	₹72 Cr	₹72 Cr	+5.2%
EPS	₹9.68	₹14.17	₹8.1	₹7.66	-7.5%
ROE	11.1%	14.6%	9.8%	8.9%	—
ROCE	16.4%	18.0%	12.7%	11.4%	—
Total Debt	₹182 Cr	₹132 Cr	₹131 Cr	₹75 Cr	-25.6%
Free Cash Flow	₹70 Cr	₹60 Cr	₹8 Cr	₹24 Cr	-30.4%

🟡 Revenue has been broadly flat over 3 years (-0.7% a year).

🟡 EBITDA has been broadly flat over 3 years (-2.0% a year).

🟡 EBITDA Margin has held roughly flat at 23.9% over 3 years.

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 5.2% a year over 3 years.

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

🔴 ROE has fallen from 11.1% to 8.9% over 3 years (-2.2 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 16.4% to 11.4% over 3 years (-5.0 pts).

🟢 Total Debt has shrunk at 25.6% a year over 3 years.

🔴 Free Cash Flow has shrunk at 30.4% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹990 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹179 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹0 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹98 Cr

Capex

-₹74 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

19.2%

Insider Holding

51.8%

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
TATA STEEL LIMITED	19.8x	10.8%
JSW STEEL LIMITED	12.0x	24.7%
JINDAL STEEL LIMITED	39.1x	5.3%
STEEL AUTHORITY OF INDIA	16.5x	7.1%

Recent News

1 mixed5 general

Bharat Wire Ropes zooms 35% in 2 days; what's driving iron & steel stock?

Business Standard, 20 Apr

BHARATWIRE Forecast — Price Target — Prediction for 2027

TradingView, 29 SeptAnalyst view

🟡Mixed / dependsBroker commentary — an opinion about the price rather than new information about the business.

Bharat Wire Ropes Share Price: Buy or Sell

Univest, 09 Sept

Lloyds Group companies buy over 5% stake in Bharat Wire Ropes, HCP Investments sells 5.5% shares in...

Moneycontrol.com, 17 Apr

Bharat Wire Ropes sets Sept 18 cut-off for 40th AGM remote e-voting

scanx.trade, 25 Sept

Bharat Wire Restarts Flagship 66,000 MTPA Chalisgaon Plant Operations Following MPCB Instructions

Sahi, 18 Jun

Watch Items

Revenue growth is negative (-8.0%) on the latest reported period — check if this is one-off or a trend.
Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongFinancial Health · Valuation

MiddlingBusiness Quality · Profitability

WeakGrowth · Risk

Points for each in the Score ↑

Unremarkable in both directions

A reasonable business at a reasonable price. Nothing here is alarming and nothing is compelling, which usually means the decision rests on things this data cannot see — the industry's direction, management's intent, and what else is available to you. 2 high-severity red flags sit above this conclusion and should be read first.

All 5 tripwires holding · see Key things to watch ↑