Dollex Agrotech Limited

Consumer Defensive — Confectioners · NSE

₹36.49+₹0.47 (+1.30%)

DalalBaazaar Score

47 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

High

Driven by moderate debt load, negative free cash flow, micro-cap size, which brings thin liquidity.

In simple words: The business is earning a fairly low return on the money invested in it, though profits are falling even as sales grow. Cash generation is currently the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:46 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Dollex Agrotech Limited manufactures and trades in sugar and its by-products in India. It operates through Trading and Manufacturing segments. The company offers jaggery, brown sugar, and Khandsari sugar; and cane seeds to farmers.

IndustryConfectioners

SectorConsumer Defensive

Employees48

Annual revenue₹225 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹225 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹4 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹8 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 48 employees supports ₹4.69 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹4.69 Cr

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 5.4% 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 ROE51.0%

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 +104% while net margin moved -32% 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+104%

Margin effect-32%

DalalBaazaar Score

47/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ ROCE of 5.4% is below 10% — capital is not working hard
✗ ROCE has fallen by 6.7 points — returns are eroding
✗ EBITDA margin of 7.7% is thin — little cushion if costs rise
✗ Net margin of 3.5% is slim
• Revenue has compounded at 26.8% a year, which is the base these returns are earned on

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

43/ 100

Weak

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

Valuation

65/ 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.

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

15.9x

3Y Median

14.5x

40 monthly readings · mean 14.4x · range 8.7x–20.8x

Sector Median

43.3x

median of 4 sector peers

🟡Currently trading close to its 3y median of 14.5x — the market is paying about what it usually pays for this company.

🟢Against its sector it trades 63% below the peer median of 43.3x.

vs. its own history

Fair

14.5x median over 40 months · +10%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

43.3x median of 4 peers · -63%

vs. generic bands

Fair

15x–35x

EV/EBITDA

17.9x

PEG

1.41

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well1

Consistently profitable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years.

🔴 What Needs Attention2

Return on equity is falling
ROE has dropped from 12.2% to 6.8% — each rupee of shareholder capital earns less than it did.
Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from 12.1% to 5.4% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.

Red Flags

5 items require attention · 3 high · 2 watch

🔴Debt has risen sharplyFinancial
Total debt is up 284% over 3 years, from ₹43 Cr to ₹165 Cr.
🔴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.
🔴Receivables growing faster than salesFinancial
Receivables up 503% against revenue up 104% — sales are being booked faster than they are collected.
🟡Margins are compressingFinancial
EBITDA margin is down 4.0 points over 3 years.
🟡Shareholders have been dilutedOwnership
Shares outstanding are up 50% over 3 years — each existing share owns a smaller slice of the company.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Cheaper than its peers
It trades 63% 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 11.7% to 7.7%. 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 9.6x 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 503% against revenue up 104%. 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 12.2% to 6.8%. 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

1Revenue growth stays above 20% a year✓ 26.8% CAGR
Latest reported year was 10.3%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above 6%✓ 7.7%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x✗ 9.6x
Already stretched, so this is a reduction target rather than a level to hold. Around 3x is where lenders typically start attaching conditions.
4Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹41 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
5Interest cover stays above 3x✓ 3.9x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.

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 · 4 neutral · 4 weak

Market Cap

₹146 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

15.9x

Fair

Fairly valued against the generic band

P/B Ratio

1.18x

Reasonable

Reasonable against the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹2.29

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

6.8%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

5.4%

Weak

Low return on total capital employed

Debt/Equity

1.33x

Moderate

Moderate leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

10.3%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

-48.4%

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

-₹41 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

Operating Margin

6.6%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

3.5%

Average

Average bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

1.69

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.82

Market-like

Moves roughly in line with the market

52W Range Position

62%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

37.1 / 35.6

Bullish alignment (short > long)

Price vs SMA 200

Above

Long-term uptrend

RSI (14)

51.5

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹110 Cr	₹135 Cr	₹237 Cr	₹225 Cr	+26.8%
EBITDA	₹13 Cr	₹13 Cr	₹16 Cr	₹17 Cr	+10.2%
EBITDA Margin	11.7%	9.8%	6.8%	7.7%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹6 Cr	₹7 Cr	₹8 Cr	₹8 Cr	+11.3%
EPS	₹2.69	₹2.63	₹3.11	₹2.27	-5.5%
ROE	12.2%	12.1%	12.5%	6.8%	—
ROCE	12.1%	6.9%	6.3%	5.4%	—
Total Debt	₹43 Cr	₹105 Cr	₹172 Cr	₹165 Cr	+56.6%
Free Cash Flow	-₹23 Cr	-₹54 Cr	-₹76 Cr	-₹41 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 26.8% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 10.2% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA Margin has fallen from 11.7% to 7.7% over 3 years (-4.0 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 11.3% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EPS has shrunk at 5.5% a year over 3 years.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 12.2% to 6.8% over 3 years (-5.4 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 12.1% to 5.4% over 3 years (-6.7 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 56.6% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹414 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹290 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹2 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

-₹7 Cr

Capex

-₹34 Cr

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

Dollex Agrotech extends project SCOD to Sep 30, 2026

scanx.trade, 26 Jun

Dollex Agrotech (NSEI:DOLLEX) - Stock Analysis

Simply Wall Street, 28 Dec

Dollex Agrotech Ltd. Peer Comparison – Compare with Others

Value Research, 29 Aug

Dollex Agrotech IPO GMP, Date, Price, Review, Allotment

IPO Watch, 10 Dec

DollexAgrotech brings its IPO of Rs 2438.80 lakhs on the 15th of December to be listed on NSE EMERGE PLATFORM

Business Standard, 16 Dec

Top 5 Sugar Stocks Under Rs 100 to Add to Your Watchlist

Equitymaster, 31 Oct

Watch Items

Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongValuation

MiddlingFinancial Health · Growth · Risk

WeakBusiness Quality · Profitability

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

2 of 5 tripwires tripped — Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x; Free cash flow remains positive · see Key things to watch ↑