Essex Marine Limited

Consumer Defensive — Packaged Foods · BSE

₹47.99₹0.00 (0.00%)

DalalBaazaar Score

71 / 100

🟢 Good

Verdict

REASONABLE

Risk

High

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

In simple words: Strong business and financial position, with both sales and profits growing well. Cash generation is currently the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 6:07 pm

Mixed / neutral. No major red flags jump out, but nothing here screams "obviously cheap" either. This is a name that needs a peer comparison and a view on near-term earnings triggers before sizing a position.

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Essex Marine Limited engages in the processing and exporting marine and aquaculture products and commercially operating cold storages. The company's products include marine fish and shrimp, aquaculture vannamei shrimp, sole fish, frozen eel, squid, and pomfret.

IndustryPackaged Foods

SectorConsumer Defensive

Employees38

Annual revenue₹61 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹61 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹11 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹19 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 38 employees supports ₹1.60 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

EBITDA margin18.6%

Net margin10.5%

Revenue / employee₹1.60 Cr

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are NESTLE INDIA LIMITED, BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES LTD, TATA CONSUMER PRODUCT LTD, DABUR INDIA LTD. These are the companies its valuation and returns are measured against elsewhere in this report.

NESTLE INDIA LIMITEDP/E 59.8x · ROE 79.9%

BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES LTDP/E 44.1x · ROE 51.0%

TATA CONSUMER PRODUCT LTDP/E 59.3x · ROE 7.5%

DABUR INDIA LTDP/E 34.7x · ROE 17.2%

What is its competitive advantage?Some evidence

ROCE of 19.2% is above what capital typically costs, which suggests some pricing power, though not yet the sustained, wide gap that marks a durable advantage.

ROCE19.2%

ROE22.9%

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 +177% while net margin moved +13% 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+177%

Margin effect+13%

DalalBaazaar Score

71/ 100

Good

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Micro Cap: thinner liquidity and sharper drawdowns are normal
✗ Profits have swung sharply from year to year — earnings are hard to forecast
✗ Negative free cash flow means dependence on external funding

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

78/ 100

Good

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

Valuation

75/ 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

10.4x

1.3Y Median

10.3x

16 monthly readings · mean 11.4x · range 7.8x–17.4x

Sector Median

51.7x

median of 4 sector peers

🟡Currently trading close to its 1.3y median of 10.3x — the market is paying about what it usually pays for this company.

🟢Against its sector it trades 80% below the peer median of 51.7x.

vs. its own history

Fair

10.3x median over 16 months · +1%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

51.7x median of 4 peers · -80%

vs. generic bands

Cheap

Below 15x

P/E (Trailing)

10.4x

P/B

1.83x

EV/EBITDA

8.1x

PEG

0.22

Dividend Yield

None

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well1

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

🔴 What Needs Attention3

Margins are compressing
EBITDA margin has slipped from 25.5% to 18.6% over 3 years.
Free cash flow is negative
The business is not currently covering its capital spending from operations.
Inventory building faster than sales
Inventory is up 299% against revenue growth of 177% — stock may not be moving.

Red Flags

3 items require attention · 2 high · 1 watch

🔴Significant margin compressionFinancial
EBITDA margin has fallen 7.0 points, from 25.5% to 18.6%.
🔴Inventory building faster than salesFinancial
Inventory up 299% against revenue up 177% — stock may not be moving.
🟡Free cash flow is negativeFinancial
Free cash flow was -₹8 Cr in the latest year.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Capital compounds at a high rate
ROCE of 19.2% means each rupee reinvested earns well above what capital costs. If the company can keep deploying at this rate, growth creates value rather than just consuming cash.
Cheaper than its peers
It trades 80% 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 25.5% to 18.6%. If the trend continues, profit falls even on flat sales — and margin decline rarely reverses quickly.
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
2 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

1Revenue growth stays above 30% a year✓ 40.5% CAGR
Latest reported year was 45.7%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above 17%✓ 18.6%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹8 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 2.0x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
5ROCE stays above 16%✓ 19.2%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

10 / 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

7 good · 3 neutral · 1 weak

Market Cap

₹73 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

10.4x

Cheap

Cheap against the generic band

P/B Ratio

1.83x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹4.63

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

22.9%

Strong

Strong capital efficiency

ROCE

19.2%

Strong

Earns comfortably above its likely cost of capital

Debt/Equity

0.55x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

45.7%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

109.0%

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

-₹7 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

CMP

₹47.99

ROA

10.5%

Good

Assets are working hard

Operating Margin

12.9%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

10.0%

Good

Strong bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

3.63

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

52W Range Position

81%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

48.4 / 46.5

Bullish alignment (short > long)

Price vs SMA 200

Above

Long-term uptrend

RSI (14)

43.9

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹22 Cr	₹19 Cr	₹37 Cr	₹61 Cr	+40.5%
EBITDA	₹6 Cr	₹5 Cr	₹9 Cr	₹11 Cr	+26.3%
EBITDA Margin	25.5%	25.5%	24.6%	18.6%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹2 Cr	₹2 Cr	₹4 Cr	₹6 Cr	+46.5%
EPS	₹1.33	₹1.19	₹2.62	₹4.63	+51.6%
ROE	18.1%	14.0%	25.5%	15.9%	—
ROCE	20.8%	18.3%	23.8%	19.2%	—
Total Debt	₹19 Cr	₹16 Cr	₹27 Cr	₹22 Cr	+4.4%
Free Cash Flow	₹7 Cr	₹4 Cr	-₹5 Cr	-₹8 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 40.5% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 26.3% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA Margin has fallen from 25.5% to 18.6% over 3 years (-7.0 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 46.5% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EPS has grown at 51.6% a year over 3 years.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 18.1% to 15.9% over 3 years (-2.2 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 20.8% to 19.2% over 3 years (-1.6 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 4.4% a year over 3 years.

🔴 Free Cash Flow has turned negative, from ₹7 Cr to -₹8 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹65 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹25 Cr

Total Debt

₹22 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹4 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

-₹3 Cr

Capex

-₹5 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

72.1%

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
NESTLE INDIA LIMITED	59.8x	79.9%
BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES LTD	44.1x	51.0%
TATA CONSUMER PRODUCT LTD	59.3x	7.5%
DABUR INDIA LTD	34.7x	17.2%

Recent News

1 mixed5 general

ESSEX MARINE LIMITED Share Price

Upstox, 05 May

Essex Marine Ltd Key Financial Ratios – Valuation, Profitability & More

Value Research, 30 Aug

Essex Marine publishes 17th AGM notice in Financial Express and Ekdin

scanx.trade, 04 Aug

Compare with

Equitymaster, 10 Jul

Seafood stocks make a splash as cargoes skirt Hormuz route

Livemint, 26 May

Essex Marine Limited Completes Expansion of Processing Facilities at Shankarpur Unit

scanx.trade, 19 AprCapacity

🟡Mixed / dependsCapacity additions can raise revenue over two to three years, but the capital spend usually pressures free cash flow first. Worth checking whether the capex is funded from operations or from borrowing.

Watch Items

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

DalalBaazaar Thesis

🟢Business QualityStrong13.3/20

🟢Financial HealthStrong13.3/20

🟢GrowthStrong18.5/20

🟢ProfitabilityStrong13.1/15

🟢ValuationAttractive10.4/15

🔴RiskHigh2.5/10

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

This thesis breaks if

✓Revenue growth stays above 30% a year40.5% CAGR
✓EBITDA margin holds above 17%18.6%
✗Free cash flow remains positive-₹8 Cr
✓Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x2.0x
✓ROCE stays above 16%19.2%