Fine-Line Circuits Limited

Technology — Electronic Components · BSE

₹90.62+₹4.31 (+4.99%)

DalalBaazaar Score

38 / 100

🔴 Weak

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, 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, 6:08 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 Fine-Line Circuits Limited — what it does, how it earns, and who it competes with, before any of the numbers below.

What does this company do?

Fine-Line Circuits Limited engages in the manufacturing and sale of printed circuit boards (PCBs) in India.

IndustryElectronic Components

SectorTechnology

Employees146

Annual revenue₹33 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹33 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹0 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹5 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 146 employees supports ₹22.7 lakh of revenue a year, the signature of a people-led business.

EBITDA margin4.7%

Net margin0.0%

Revenue / employee₹22.7 lakh

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are TATA CONSULTANCY SERV LT, INFOSYS LIMITED, HCL TECHNOLOGIES LTD, WIPRO LTD. These are the companies its valuation and returns are measured against elsewhere in this report.

TATA CONSULTANCY SERV LTP/E 17.3x · ROE 45.6%

INFOSYS LIMITEDP/E 15.8x · ROE 32.0%

HCL TECHNOLOGIES LTDP/E 20.4x · ROE 24.6%

WIPRO LTDP/E 14.5x · ROE 15.9%

What is its competitive advantage?Little sign of one

Returns on capital of 3.5% 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.

ROCE3.5%

ROE0.2%

Peer median ROE32.0%

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 -82% 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-82%

DalalBaazaar Score

38/ 100

Weak

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Revenue CAGR of only 6.5% — barely ahead of inflation
✗ Profit has declined at 40.4% a year
✗ Profit is compounding slower than revenue — margins are being squeezed as the business grows

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

36/ 100

Weak

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

Valuation

37/ 100

Expensive

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

377.6x

3Y Median

459.9x

40 monthly readings · mean 605.5x · range 147.4x–3020.7x

Sector Median

16.5x

median of 4 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 18% below its 3y median of 459.9x. 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 2182% above the peer median of 16.5x.

vs. its own history

Fair

459.9x median over 40 months · -18%

vs. sector peers

Expensive

16.5x median of 4 peers · +2182%

vs. generic bands

Expensive

Above 35x

P/E (Trailing)

377.6x

P/B

4.76x

EV/EBITDA

32.4x

PEG

—

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 Attention2

Free cash flow is negative
The business is not currently covering its capital spending from operations.
Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from 6.0% to 3.5% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.

Red Flags

4 items require attention · 1 high · 3 watch

🔴Thin interest coverageFinancial
Operating profit covers interest only 1.0x — little room if earnings dip.
🟡Interest coverage is deterioratingFinancial
Cover has fallen from 1.6x to 1.0x.
🟡Free cash flow is negativeFinancial
Free cash flow was -₹1 Cr in the latest year.
🟡Profit is decliningFinancial
Net profit is down 79% over 3 years.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

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?

The debt load needs earnings to hold up
Debt is 4.8x EBITDA. At that level a downturn in earnings turns a manageable balance sheet into a refinancing problem, and lenders get paid before shareholders.
A premium to the sector to defend
It trades 2182% above the peer median. That premium needs a reason that persists, or it closes.
Growth barely outpaces inflation
Revenue compounding at 6.5% a year is close to the rate prices rise, so the business is gaining little ground in real terms. That leaves the share price dependent on a re-rating rather than on earnings growth.
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 3%✓ 4.7%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x✗ 4.8x
Already stretched, so this is a reduction target rather than a level to hold. Around 3x is where lenders typically start attaching conditions.
3Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹1 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Interest cover stays above 3x✗ 1.0x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.
5Revenue growth stays above 5% a year✓ 6.5% CAGR
Latest reported year was 47.8%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.

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 · 4 neutral · 4 weak

Market Cap

₹44 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

377.6x

Expensive

Expensive — verify against sector peers

P/B Ratio

4.76x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹0.24

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

0.2%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

3.5%

Weak

Low return on total capital employed

Debt/Equity

0.82x

Moderate

Moderate leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

47.8%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

161.5%

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

-₹1 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

CMP

₹90.62

Operating Margin

2.6%

Weak

Thin margins leave little room for error

Net Margin

0.3%

Weak

Very little revenue reaches the bottom line

Current Ratio

1.70

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

-0.78

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

76%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

68.2 / 66.8

Bullish alignment (short > long)

Price vs SMA 200

Above

Long-term uptrend

RSI (14)

82.3

Overbought zone

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹27 Cr	₹24 Cr	₹30 Cr	₹33 Cr	+6.5%
EBITDA	₹1 Cr	₹1 Cr	₹1 Cr	₹2 Cr	+14.5%
EBITDA Margin	3.8%	4.8%	3.9%	4.7%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹0 Cr	₹0 Cr	₹0 Cr	₹0 Cr	-40.4%
EPS	₹0.15	₹0.22	₹0.41	₹0.03	-41.5%
ROE	0.8%	1.3%	2.2%	0.2%	—
ROCE	6.0%	6.3%	5.3%	3.5%	—
Total Debt	₹6 Cr	₹6 Cr	₹6 Cr	₹7 Cr	+5.7%
Free Cash Flow	-₹1 Cr	-₹2 Cr	₹1 Cr	-₹1 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 6.5% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 14.5% a year over 3 years.

🟡 EBITDA Margin has held roughly flat at 4.7% over 3 years.

🔴 PAT (Net Profit) has shrunk at 40.4% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EPS has shrunk at 41.5% a year over 3 years.

🟡 ROE has held roughly flat at 0.2% over 3 years.

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 6.0% to 3.5% over 3 years (-2.5 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 5.7% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹22 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹13 Cr

Total Debt

₹7 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹1 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹0 Cr

Capex

-₹2 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

56.7%

Corporate Actions

Ex-Dividend Date

16 Aug 2007

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
TATA CONSULTANCY SERV LT	17.3x	45.6%
INFOSYS LIMITED	15.8x	32.0%
HCL TECHNOLOGIES LTD	20.4x	24.6%
WIPRO LTD	14.5x	15.9%

Recent News

2 negative4 general

FINE-LINE CIRCUITS LTD. Share Price

Upstox, 05 MayRegulatory

🔴Potentially negativeRegulatory and legal actions carry a financial cost and a governance question. The second usually matters more than the first.

ICICI Securities Primary Dealership sells 0.6% stake in AceVector

Moneycontrol.com, 14 Oct

Fine-Line Circuits net profit falls 92% in FY26 on exceptional items

scanx.trade, 31 AugResults

🔴Potentially negativeReported deterioration, which feeds the growth and margin inputs on this page directly.

ELPROINTL Stock Price and Chart — NSE:ELPROINTL

TradingView, 20 Apr

Stocks to Watch Today: IDBI Bank, Dr Reddys Labs, RIL, Enviro Infra, Om Power Transmission, Bajaj...

Moneycontrol.com, 15 Oct

HEGAM Stock Price and Chart — NSE:HEGAM

TradingView, 22 Sept

Watch Items

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

🔴Business QualityWeak7.5/20

🟡Financial HealthAdequate9.7/20

🔴GrowthWeak5.7/20

🔴ProfitabilityWeak4.5/15

🟡ValuationFair6.9/15

🔴RiskHigh4/10

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. 1 high-severity red flag sits above this conclusion and should be read first.

This thesis breaks if

✓EBITDA margin holds above 3%4.7%
✗Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x4.8x
✗Free cash flow remains positive-₹1 Cr
✗Interest cover stays above 3x1.0x
✓Revenue growth stays above 5% a year6.5% CAGR