City Crops Agro Limited

Consumer Defensive — Farm Products · BSE

₹58.09+₹1.13 (+1.98%)

DalalBaazaar Score

39 / 100

🔴 Weak

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

Moderate

Driven by the company is currently loss-making, micro-cap size, which brings thin liquidity.

In simple words: The company is currently losing money, but sales are shrinking. Whether sales start growing again is the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 6:54 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

City Crops Agro Limited engages in the production and sale of agricultural products in India. It also trades in agricultural products. City Crops Agro Limited was incorporated in 2013 and is based in Ahmedabad, India.

IndustryFarm Products

SectorConsumer Defensive

Annual revenue₹20 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹20 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹-20 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹64 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation.

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LTD., ITC LTD, NESTLE INDIA LIMITED, BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES 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?Little sign of one

Returns on capital of -14.1% 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 ROE51.0%

What has been driving growth?

Profit has moved mainly because margins changed, not because the business sold much more. Over 3 years revenue moved -21% while net margin moved -538% 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-21%

Margin effect-538%

DalalBaazaar Score

39/ 100

Weak

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Return on equity is negative
✗ ROE has fallen by 23.6 points over the period

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

39/ 100

Weak

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

Valuation

49/ 100

Fair

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

7.6x

PEG

—

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well2

Margins are improving
EBITDA margin is up from 5.4% to 64.0% over 3 years.
Very low debt
Debt/Equity of 0.09x leaves the balance sheet with plenty of headroom.

🔴 What Needs Attention2

Return on equity is falling
ROE has dropped from 9.5% to -14.2% — each rupee of shareholder capital earns less than it did.
Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from 11.1% to -14.1% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.

Red Flags

6 items require attention · 4 high · 2 watch

🔴Thin interest coverageFinancial
Operating profit covers interest only -337.9x — little room if earnings dip.
🔴Free cash flow negative for 4 yearsFinancial
The business has not covered its capital spending from operations for several years running, which has to be funded externally.
🔴The company is lossmakingFinancial
Net profit of -₹4 Cr in the latest reported year.
🔴Receivables growing faster than salesFinancial
Receivables up 132% against revenue up -21% — sales are being booked faster than they are collected.
🟡Debt is increasingFinancial
Total debt is up 25% over 3 years.
🟡Interest coverage is deterioratingFinancial
Cover has fallen from 1172.6x to -337.9x.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Margin expansion has further to run
EBITDA margin has risen from 5.4% to 64.0%. If that holds, profit compounds faster than sales and today's multiple looks cheaper in hindsight than it does now.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

Sales are being booked faster than collected
Receivables are up 132% against revenue up -21%. 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 9.5% to -14.2%. 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.
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
4 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 62%✓ 64.0%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹1 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
3Interest cover stays above 3x✗ -337.9x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.
4Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 0.0x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
5ROCE stays above 8%✗ -14.1%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

6 / 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

₹95 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

3.41x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹-2.41

Loss-making

Negative earnings per share — the business is losing money

ROE

-13.2%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

-14.1%

Weak

Low return on total capital employed

Debt/Equity

0.09x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

-52.0%

Shrinking

Sales are contracting

Profit Growth (YoY)

52.8%

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

₹11 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

ROA

20.7%

Good

Assets are working hard

Operating Margin

112.4%

Good

Healthy core-business profitability

Net Margin

-20.1%

Weak

Very little revenue reaches the bottom line

Current Ratio

4.04

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.79

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

100%

Near high

Near its 52-week high

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

51.0 / 42.4

Bullish alignment (short > long)

Price vs SMA 200

Above

Long-term uptrend

RSI (14)

100.0

Overbought zone

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹25 Cr	₹45 Cr	₹56 Cr	₹20 Cr	-7.4%
EBITDA	₹1 Cr	₹3 Cr	₹3 Cr	₹13 Cr	+111.2%
EBITDA Margin	5.4%	5.8%	4.6%	64.0%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹1 Cr	₹2 Cr	₹2 Cr	-₹4 Cr	—
EPS	₹0.69	₹1.73	₹1.52	—	—
ROE	9.5%	7.8%	7.8%	-14.2%	—
ROCE	11.1%	8.8%	8.1%	-14.1%	—
Total Debt	₹0 Cr	₹0 Cr	₹0 Cr	₹0 Cr	+7.8%
Free Cash Flow	-₹1 Cr	-₹12 Cr	-₹0 Cr	-₹1 Cr	—

🔴 Revenue has shrunk at 7.4% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 111.2% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from 5.4% to 64.0% over 3 years (+58.6 pts).

🔴 PAT (Net Profit) has turned negative, from ₹1 Cr to -₹4 Cr.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 9.5% to -14.2% over 3 years (-23.6 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 11.1% to -14.1% over 3 years (-25.2 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 7.8% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹35 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹7 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹0 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

-₹0 Cr

Capex

-₹0 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

92.6%

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LTD.	42.5x	21.5%
ITC LTD	16.6x	27.4%
NESTLE INDIA LIMITED	59.8x	79.9%
BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES LTD	44.1x	51.0%

Recent News

6 general

Compare DEVIKA FINST with

Equitymaster, 14 Oct

City Crops Agro shareholders approve all four AGM resolutions unanimously

scanx.trade, 06 Oct

City Crops Agro Ltd. Upper Circuit Today: Price, Data and Peers

Univest, 23 Sept

City Crops Agro Ltd Peer Comparison – Compare with Others

Value Research, 02 Sept

City Crops Agro Ltd Key Financial Ratios – Valuation, Profitability & More

Value Research, 27 Aug

ELEVATE CAMPUSES LTD. Stock/Share price , NSE/BSE Forecast News and Live Quotes

Equitymaster, 14 Oct

Watch Items

Revenue growth is negative (-52.0%) on the latest reported period — check if this is one-off or a trend.
Trading very close to its 52-week high — momentum-driven entries here carry more mean-reversion risk.
Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.
RSI is in overbought territory — momentum entries here carry more short-term pullback risk.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongFinancial Health

WeakBusiness Quality · Growth · Profitability · Valuation · 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. 4 high-severity red flags sit above this conclusion and should be read first.

3 of 5 tripwires tripped — Free cash flow remains positive; Interest cover stays above 3x; ROCE stays above 8% · see Key things to watch ↑