Bodal Chemicals Limited

Basic Materials — Specialty Chemicals · NSE

₹166.00−₹0.16 (−0.10%)

DalalBaazaar Score

48 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

NEUTRAL

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 both sales and profits growing well. Nothing on this snapshot stands out as an immediate concern — the usual checks on business quality and management still apply.

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 Bodal Chemicals Limited — what it does, how it earns, and who it competes with, before any of the numbers below.

What does this company do?

Bodal Chemicals Limited engages in the manufacture and sale of dyestuffs, dyes intermediates, and other chemicals in India and internationally.

IndustrySpecialty Chemicals

SectorBasic Materials

Employees2,152

Annual revenue₹1,950 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹1,950 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹2 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹9 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 2,152 employees supports ₹90.6 lakh of revenue a year, the signature of a people-led business.

Revenue / employee₹90.6 lakh

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are ASIAN PAINTS LIMITED, PIDILITE INDUSTRIES LTD, SRF LTD, UPL 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 8.2% 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?

Growth has come mainly from selling more, rather than from keeping more of each sale. Over 3 years revenue moved +26% while net margin moved -0% 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+26%

Margin effect-0%

DalalBaazaar Score

48/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ ROE of 4.1% is weak

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

45/ 100

Average

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

Valuation

63/ 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

30.5x

3Y Median

42.6x

40 monthly readings · mean 65.7x · range 23.4x–159.8x

Sector Median

40.4x

median of 4 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 28% below its 3y median of 42.6x. 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 25% below the peer median of 40.4x.

vs. its own history

Cheap

42.6x median over 40 months · -28%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

40.4x median of 4 peers · -25%

vs. generic bands

Fair

15x–35x

EV/EBITDA

16.0x

PEG

3.84

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well3

Cash flow has turned positive
Free cash flow moved from negative to positive over 3 years.
Return on capital is rising
ROCE has improved from 6.0% to 8.2%.
Consistently profitable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years.

🔴 What Needs Attention0

Nothing stands out as clearly deteriorating on the years of data available.

Red Flags

1 item require attention · 1 high

🔴Thin interest coverageFinancial
Operating profit covers interest only 1.7x — little room if earnings dip.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Priced below its own history
The stock trades 28% 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 25% 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?

The debt load needs earnings to hold up
Debt is 4.5x EBITDA. At that level a downturn in earnings turns a manageable balance sheet into a refinancing problem, and lenders get paid before shareholders.
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.

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

1EBITDA margin holds above 7%✓ 9.3%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x✗ 4.5x
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✗ 1.7x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.
4Revenue growth stays above 6% a year✓ 8.1% CAGR
Latest reported year was 56.1%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
5Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹140 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.

Investment Checklist

8 / 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

4 good · 6 neutral · 1 weak

Market Cap

₹2,091 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

30.5x

Fair

Fairly valued against the generic band

P/B Ratio

1.80x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹5.45

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

4.1%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

8.2%

Moderate

Moderate return on the capital in the business

Debt/Equity

0.70x

Moderate

Moderate leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

56.1%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

217.1%

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

₹140 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

P/E (Forward)

23.4x

Improving

Below the trailing multiple — the street expects earnings to grow into the price

Operating Margin

7.5%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

3.0%

Average

Average bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

1.23

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.35

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

75%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

186.0 / 142.4

Bullish alignment (short > long)

Price vs SMA 200

Above

Long-term uptrend

RSI (14)

25.5

Oversold zone

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹1,544 Cr	₹1,363 Cr	₹1,710 Cr	₹1,950 Cr	+8.1%
EBITDA	₹142 Cr	₹125 Cr	₹175 Cr	₹181 Cr	+8.4%
EBITDA Margin	9.2%	9.1%	10.3%	9.3%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹38 Cr	₹6 Cr	₹19 Cr	₹48 Cr	+7.9%
EPS	₹3.03	₹0.51	₹1.47	₹3.8	+7.8%
ROE	3.5%	0.6%	1.7%	4.1%	—
ROCE	6.0%	3.6%	6.2%	8.2%	—
Total Debt	₹698 Cr	₹904 Cr	₹911 Cr	₹813 Cr	+5.2%
Free Cash Flow	-₹48 Cr	-₹41 Cr	₹67 Cr	₹140 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 8.1% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 8.4% a year over 3 years.

🟡 EBITDA Margin has held roughly flat at 9.3% over 3 years.

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 7.9% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EPS has grown at 7.8% a year over 3 years.

🟡 ROE has held roughly flat at 4.1% over 3 years.

🟢 ROCE has risen from 6.0% to 8.2% over 3 years (+2.2 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 5.2% a year over 3 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has turned positive, from -₹48 Cr to ₹140 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹2,356 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹1,198 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹17 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹176 Cr

Capex

-₹36 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.1%

Insider Holding

62.9%

Corporate Actions

Ex-Dividend Date

22 Sept 2023

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
ASIAN PAINTS LIMITED	46.9x	22.3%
PIDILITE INDUSTRIES LTD	57.8x	24.4%
SRF LTD	33.8x	15.4%
UPL LIMITED	21.5x	6.1%

Recent News

1 positive5 general

With EPS Growth And More, Bodal Chemicals (NSE:BODALCHEM) Makes An Interesting Case

Simply Wall Street, 21 Aug

Bodal Chemicals Share Price news with valuation context

Univest, 31 Aug

Bodal Chemicals Q1FY27 net profit surges 179% on strong volumes

scanx.trade, 05 AugResults

🟢Potentially positiveReported improvement. Check whether it came from volume, price or a one-off item before treating it as a trend.

Bodal Chemicals Ltd. Shareholding Pattern – Promoters, FIIs & DIIs

Value Research, 29 Aug

Chemical Stocks In Focus: Dye Intermediate Prices See Massive Surge — Check Details

NDTV Profit, 24 Sept

Bodal Chemicals Ltd. - Smallcaps shine! 10 stocks that delivered gains of up to 41% this week. How many do you have?

The Economic Times, 21 Mar

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

MiddlingFinancial Health · Growth · Valuation

WeakBusiness Quality · Profitability · 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. 1 high-severity red flag sits above this conclusion and should be read first.

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