Chowgule Steamships Limited

Industrials — Marine Shipping · BSE

₹20.70−₹0.12 (−0.58%)

DalalBaazaar Score

48 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

High

Driven by negative free cash flow, micro-cap size, which brings thin liquidity, a very high earnings multiple, which leaves little margin for disappointment.

In simple words: The business is earning a fairly low return on the money invested in it, but sales are shrinking. Cash generation is currently the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 6:09 pm

Caution warranted. Multiple fundamental metrics — flagged in red below — point to either valuation stretch, leverage risk, or weakening profitability. This doesn't mean avoid the stock outright, but it does mean the burden of proof is on the growth story to justify the current price.

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Chowgule Steamships Limited operates as a shipping company in India. It provides seaborne transportation services of bulk cargo. The company was incorporated in 1963 and is based in Thane West, India.

IndustryMarine Shipping

SectorIndustrials

Employees5

Annual revenue₹3 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹3 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹-4 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹49 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 5 employees supports ₹65.5 lakh of revenue a year, the signature of a people-led business.

EBITDA margin48.6%

Net margin-4.3%

Revenue / employee₹65.5 lakh

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are ADANI PORT & SEZ LTD, LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD.. These are the companies its valuation and returns are measured against elsewhere in this report.

ADANI PORT & SEZ LTDP/E 29.9x · ROE 14.1%

LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD.P/E 30.1x · ROE 15.2%

What is its competitive advantage?Little sign of one

Returns on capital of 2.4% 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.

ROCE2.4%

ROE-0.3%

Peer median ROE15.2%

What has been driving growth?

Profit has moved mainly because margins changed, not because the business sold much more. Over 3 years revenue moved +27% while net margin moved -131% 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+27%

Margin effect-131%

DalalBaazaar Score

48/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ P/E of 345.0x is demanding — it needs sustained high growth to justify
✗ P/E is 449% above its own historical median of 62.9x — expensive by its own standards

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

52/ 100

Average

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

Valuation

26/ 100

Expensive

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

345.0x

3Y Median

62.9x

40 monthly readings · mean 91.0x · range 11.5x–317.0x

Sector Median

30.0x

median of 2 sector peers

⚠️Current valuation is approximately 449% above its 3y median of 62.9x. 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 1051% above the peer median of 30.0x.

vs. its own history

Expensive

62.9x median over 40 months · +449%

vs. sector peers

Expensive

30.0x median of 2 peers · +1051%

vs. generic bands

Expensive

Above 35x

P/E (Trailing)

345.0x

P/B

1.69x

EV/EBITDA

47.2x

PEG

—

Dividend Yield

None

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well2

Margins are improving
EBITDA margin is up from 14.4% to 48.6% over 3 years.
Return on capital is rising
ROCE has improved from 0.2% to 2.4%.

🔴 What Needs Attention2

Free cash flow is negative
The business is not currently covering its capital spending from operations.
Valuation above its historical average
At 345.0x the stock trades 449% above its own median of 62.9x.

Red Flags

2 items require attention · 1 high · 1 watch

🔴The company is lossmakingFinancial
Net profit of -₹0 Cr in the latest reported year.
🟡Free cash flow is negativeFinancial
Free cash flow was -₹4 Cr in the latest year.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Margin expansion has further to run
EBITDA margin has risen from 14.4% to 48.6%. 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?

The price already assumes success
The stock trades 449% above its own median multiple. At this level the business has to deliver just to stand still, and a stumble is repriced twice — lower earnings on a lower multiple.
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 47%✓ 48.6%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹4 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
3Revenue growth stays above 6% a year✓ 8.4% CAGR
Latest reported year was -1.4%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
4ROCE stays above 8%✗ 2.4%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.
5Interest cover stays above 4x✓ 5.7x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.

Investment Checklist

3 / 10 checks passed

✗ Strong return on equity (ROE ≥ 15%)
✗ Strong return on capital employed (ROCE ≥ 15%)
✗ Healthy net margin (≥ 10%)
✗ Generates positive free cash flow
✓ 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

2 good · 4 neutral · 5 weak

Market Cap

₹75 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

345.0x

Expensive

Expensive — verify against sector peers

P/B Ratio

1.69x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹0.06

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

-0.3%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

2.4%

Weak

Low return on total capital employed

Debt/Equity

Not available

No data

Source didn't return this field

Revenue Growth (YoY)

-1.4%

Shrinking

Sales are contracting

Profit Growth (YoY)

125.0%

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

-₹4 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

CMP

₹20.7

Operating Margin

-49.3%

Weak

Thin margins leave little room for error

Net Margin

6.7%

Average

Average bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

4.08

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

-0.36

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

31%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

20.6 / 21.6

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

47.4

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹3 Cr	₹4 Cr	₹4 Cr	₹3 Cr	+8.4%
EBITDA	₹0 Cr	₹3 Cr	₹2 Cr	₹2 Cr	+62.4%
EBITDA Margin	14.4%	74.5%	53.8%	48.6%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹0 Cr	₹7 Cr	₹1 Cr	-₹0 Cr	—
EPS	₹0.1	₹2.04	₹0.35	—	—
ROE	1.0%	17.2%	2.9%	-0.3%	—
ROCE	0.2%	16.7%	5.3%	2.4%	—
Free Cash Flow	-₹1 Cr	₹2 Cr	-₹5 Cr	-₹4 Cr	—

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

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 62.4% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from 14.4% to 48.6% over 3 years (+34.1 pts).

🔴 PAT (Net Profit) has turned negative, from ₹0 Cr to -₹0 Cr.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 1.0% to -0.3% over 3 years (-1.3 pts).

🟢 ROCE has risen from 0.2% to 2.4% over 3 years (+2.2 pts).

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹53 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹9 Cr

Total Debt

—

Cash & Equivalents

₹0 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

-₹4 Cr

Capex

-₹0 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

81.5%

Corporate Actions

Ex-Dividend Date

29 Jun 2011

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
ADANI PORT & SEZ LTD	29.9x	14.1%
LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD.	30.1x	15.2%

Recent News

6 general

Chowgule Steamships Ltd. Key Financial Ratios – Valuation, Profitability & More

Value Research, 04 Sept

Chowgule Steamships confirms demise of CS and compliance officer

scanx.trade, 28 Sept

Shipping Penny Stocks in India 2027: 5 Top Picks

Univest, 16 Sept

Chowgule Steamships sets book closure for 63rd AGM

scanx.trade, 05 Aug

Seacoast Shipping Services (BSE:542753) - Stock Analysis

Simply Wall Street, 28 Mar

TRANSWORLD Stock Price and Chart — NSE:TRANSWORLD

TradingView, 16 Dec

Watch Items

Revenue growth is negative (-1.4%) 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.
1 metric couldn't be retrieved for this stock — this is more common for smaller or thinly-covered listings.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

🟡Business QualityAdequate10.3/20

🟢Financial HealthStrong13.2/20

🟡GrowthModest10.6/20

🔴ProfitabilityWeak5/15

🔴ValuationDemanding4.9/15

🔴RiskHigh4/10

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.

This thesis breaks if

✓EBITDA margin holds above 47%48.6%
✗Free cash flow remains positive-₹4 Cr
✓Revenue growth stays above 6% a year8.4% CAGR
✗ROCE stays above 8%2.4%
✓Interest cover stays above 4x5.7x