EPL Limited

Consumer Cyclical — Packaging & Containers · NSE

₹232.00−₹4.35 (−1.84%)

DalalBaazaar Score

74 / 100

🟢 Good

Verdict

REASONABLE

Risk

Low

Driven by small-cap size, which brings sharper price swings, falling profits.

In simple words: Strong business and financial position, though profits are falling even as sales grow. The direction of profits is the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 6:59 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

EPL Limited, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells plastic packaging materials in the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and East Asia Pacific. It offers dispensing systems, caps and closures, laminated tubes, laminates, and extruded tubes.

IndustryPackaging & Containers

SectorConsumer Cyclical

Employees1,411

Annual revenue₹4,763 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹4,763 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹8 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹21 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 1,411 employees supports ₹3.38 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹3.38 Cr

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are MARUTI SUZUKI INDIA LTD., TITAN COMPANY LIMITED, TRENT LTD, AVENUE SUPERMARTS 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?Some evidence

ROCE of 16.8% is above what capital typically costs, which suggests some pricing power, though not yet the sustained, wide gap that marks a durable advantage.

Peer median ROE25.9%

What is the outlook?

7 analysts covering the stock expect revenue to grow about 8.7% and earnings to grow about 19.8% in the year to 2028. These are estimates by people who follow the company, not a forecast for the wider industry.

Est. revenue growth+8.7%

Est. earnings growth+19.8%

Analysts7

What has been driving growth?

Sales and margins have both contributed to where profit is now. Over 3 years revenue moved +30% 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+30%

Margin effect+32%

DalalBaazaar Score

74/ 100

Good

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

• ROE of 13.6% is moderate

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

76/ 100

Good

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

Valuation

77/ 100

Cheap

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

A good business currently available at an undemanding price — the combination this framework is built to look for.

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

18.9x

3Y Median

26.1x

40 monthly readings · mean 26.3x · range 17.1x–40.6x

Sector Median

69.2x

median of 4 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 28% below its 3y median of 26.1x. 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 trades 73% below the peer median of 69.2x.

vs. its own history

Cheap

26.1x median over 40 months · -28%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

69.2x median of 4 peers · -73%

vs. generic bands

Fair

15x–35x

EV/EBITDA

8.1x

PEG

0.96

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well3

Margins are improving
EBITDA margin is up from 16.7% to 21.2% over 3 years.
Return on capital is rising
ROCE has improved from 12.4% to 16.8%.
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

No automated checks triggered

None of the automated financial checks below were triggered on the years of data available. That is not the same as a clean bill of health — see what could not be checked.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Margin expansion has further to run
EBITDA margin has risen from 16.7% to 21.2%. If that holds, profit compounds faster than sales and today's multiple looks cheaper in hindsight than it does now.
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 73% below the sector median. Either the market sees a problem the numbers do not show, or the discount closes.
Self-funding with balance-sheet headroom
Positive free cash flow of ₹241 Cr alongside low debt means growth, buybacks or dividends need no outside money — and a downturn can be absorbed rather than refinanced.
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?

Size brings its own risk
Small 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 19%✓ 21.2%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Revenue growth stays above 7% a year✓ 9.1% CAGR
Latest reported year was 25.3%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
3Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹241 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 1.0x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
5ROCE stays above 14%✓ 16.8%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

8 / 12 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
✓ Analyst consensus isn't majority-sell
✗ Short-term technical trend isn't bearish

Price history

Quick Metrics

6 good · 4 neutral · 1 weak

Market Cap

₹7,444 Cr

Small Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

18.9x

Fair

Fairly valued against the generic band

P/B Ratio

2.59x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹12.3

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

13.6%

Moderate

Moderate capital efficiency

ROCE

16.8%

Strong

Earns comfortably above its likely cost of capital

Debt/Equity

0.34x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

25.3%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

-1.6%

Falling

Profits are shrinking

Dividend Yield

2.16%

Healthy

Meaningful cash return while you hold the stock

Free Cash Flow

₹241 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

P/E (Forward)

13.4x

Improving

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

Operating Margin

11.2%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

7.7%

Average

Average bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

1.56

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.39

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

57%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

235.6 / 241.7

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Above

Long-term uptrend

RSI (14)

42.1

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹3,665 Cr	₹3,876 Cr	₹4,213 Cr	₹4,763 Cr	+9.1%
EBITDA	₹614 Cr	₹772 Cr	₹882 Cr	₹1,009 Cr	+18.0%
EBITDA Margin	16.7%	19.9%	20.9%	21.2%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹227 Cr	₹213 Cr	₹359 Cr	₹389 Cr	+19.7%
EPS	₹7.15	₹6.68	₹11.23	₹12.13	+19.3%
ROE	11.4%	10.2%	15.2%	13.6%	—
ROCE	12.4%	13.9%	18.8%	16.8%	—
Total Debt	₹890 Cr	₹912 Cr	₹803 Cr	₹963 Cr	+2.7%
Free Cash Flow	₹215 Cr	₹212 Cr	₹432 Cr	₹241 Cr	+4.0%

🟢 Revenue has grown at 9.1% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 18.0% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from 16.7% to 21.2% over 3 years (+4.4 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 19.7% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EPS has grown at 19.3% a year over 3 years.

🟢 ROE has risen from 11.4% to 13.6% over 3 years (+2.2 pts).

🟢 ROCE has risen from 12.4% to 16.8% over 3 years (+4.4 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 2.7% a year over 3 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has grown at 4.0% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹4,900 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹2,033 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹197 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹723 Cr

Capex

-₹482 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

25.4%

Insider Holding

29.9%

Corporate Actions

Dividend Rate

₹5

Ex-Dividend Date

17 Nov 2025

Analyst Consensus

Recommendations

7 Buy · 0 Hold · 0 Sell

Target Price (Mean)

₹307.5

+32.5% vs CMP

Target Range

₹270 – ₹350

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
MARUTI SUZUKI INDIA LTD.	25.2x	13.4%
TITAN COMPANY LIMITED	68.5x	36.7%
TRENT LTD	87.2x	25.9%
AVENUE SUPERMARTS LIMITED	69.9x	12.7%

Recent News

2 positive1 mixed3 general

Blackstone-backed Epsilon Bidco may sell 26% stake in EPL in Rs 1,985-crore block deal

The Economic Times, 31 Aug

EPL Q1 Profit Steady at ₹100.6 Cr; Revenue Jumps 25%

HDFC Sky, 12 AugResults

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

EPL Limited's (NSE:EPL) Stock Has Seen Strong Momentum: Does That Call For Deeper Study Of Its Financial Prospects?

Simply Wall Street, 10 Feb

EPL share price crashes over 9% as nearly 30% equity changes hands in block deals

Zee Business, 01 SeptPrice move

🟡Mixed / dependsA price move rather than a change in the business. If the figures on this page have not moved, the fall is either an opportunity or news they have yet to catch up with.

EPL Ltd Q4 Net Profit Falls 12% to ₹1 Billion Despite 18% Revenue Surge

Sahi, 14 MayResults

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

EPL block deal: Blackstone-backed Epsilon Bidco sells 26.4% stake, Quant MF among buyers

CNBC TV18, 01 Sept

Watch Items

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

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongBusiness Quality · Financial Health · Growth · Valuation

MiddlingProfitability · Risk

Points for each in the Score ↑

Attractive on both counts

A good business currently available at an undemanding price — the combination this framework exists to look for. The work left is qualitative: whether the advantage the numbers imply is one you can identify and expect to last.

All 5 tripwires holding · see Key things to watch ↑