Flex Foods Limited

Consumer Defensive — Packaged Foods · BSE

₹52.44+₹1.44 (+2.82%)

DalalBaazaar Score

36 / 100

🔴 Weak

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

Very High

Driven by high debt relative to equity, short-term liabilities exceed short-term assets, negative free cash flow.

In simple words: The company is currently losing money, with modest growth. Debt is the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 6:57 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Flex Foods Limited engages in the cultivation and processing of food products in freeze dried, air dried, and individually quick -frozen forms in India and internationally.

IndustryPackaged Foods

SectorConsumer Defensive

Employees509

Annual revenue₹190 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹190 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹-17 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹-0 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 509 employees supports ₹37.3 lakh of revenue a year, the signature of a people-led business.

Revenue / employee₹37.3 lakh

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.

Compared side by side in Peers ↓

What is its competitive advantage?Little sign of one

Returns on capital of -8.1% 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?

Sales and margins have both contributed to where profit is now. Over 3 years revenue moved +68% while net margin moved +79% 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+68%

Margin effect+79%

DalalBaazaar Score

36/ 100

Weak

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Return on equity is negative
✗ ROE has fallen by 334.4 points over the period

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

40/ 100

Weak

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

Valuation

21/ 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.

vs. its own history

Not enough price and earnings history

vs. sector peers

Not enough peers with a usable P/E

vs. generic bands

N/A

No P/E — the company is lossmaking

EV/EBITDA

—

PEG

—

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well0

Nothing stands out as clearly improving on the years of data available.

🔴 What Needs Attention2

Return on equity is falling
ROE has dropped from -10.4% to -344.8% — each rupee of shareholder capital earns less than it did.
Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from 0.2% to -8.1% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.

Red Flags

9 items require attention · 5 high · 4 watch

🔴High leverageFinancial
Debt/Equity of 33.36x — earnings must service borrowings before shareholders see anything.
🔴Thin interest coverageFinancial
Operating profit covers interest only -0.8x — little room if earnings dip.
🔴Profit up while operating cash flow fallsFinancial
Reported profit rose but cash generated by operations declined — worth checking whether earnings are being supported by non-cash items or working capital.
🔴The company is lossmakingFinancial
Net profit of -₹32 Cr in the latest reported year.
🔴Significant margin compressionFinancial
EBITDA margin has fallen 9.5 points, from 9.3% to -0.2%.
🟡Debt is increasingFinancial
Total debt is up 30% over 3 years.
🟡Interest coverage is deterioratingFinancial
Cover has fallen from -1.1x to -0.8x.
🟡Free cash flow is negativeFinancial
Free cash flow was -₹1 Cr in the latest year.
🟡Short-term liquidity is tightFinancial
Current ratio of 0.71 — near-term obligations exceed near-term assets.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

No clear supporting case emerges from the available numbers.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

Margins are being competed away
EBITDA margin has fallen from 9.3% to -0.2%. If the trend continues, profit falls even on flat sales — and margin decline rarely reverses quickly.
Leverage amplifies any setback
Debt/Equity of 33.36x. Interest is payable whether or not the business has a good year.
Returns on shareholder capital are falling
ROE has dropped from -10.4% to -344.8%. 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.
Several serious flags at once
5 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 14% a year✓ 18.8% CAGR
Latest reported year was 47.5%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above -2%✓ -0.2%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹1 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Interest cover stays above 3x✗ -0.8x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.
5ROCE stays above 8%✗ -8.1%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

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

1 good · 3 neutral · 7 weak

Market Cap

₹65 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

Not meaningful

Loss-making

Earnings are negative, so a P/E multiple can't be read here

P/B Ratio

7.08x

Rich

Steep premium to book — needs high, durable returns to justify

EPS (TTM)

₹-16.18

Loss-making

Negative earnings per share — the business is losing money

ROE

-344.8%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

-8.1%

Weak

Low return on total capital employed

Debt/Equity

33.36x

High

High leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

47.5%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

2.2%

Modest

Slow profit growth

Dividend Yield

0.95%

Modest

Small cash return — most of the return has to come from the price

Free Cash Flow

-₹1 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

Operating Margin

7.5%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

-9.5%

Weak

Very little revenue reaches the bottom line

Current Ratio

0.71

Tight

Tight short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.37

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

58%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

49.8 / 47.4

Bullish alignment (short > long)

Price vs SMA 200

Above

Long-term uptrend

RSI (14)

58.4

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹113 Cr	₹120 Cr	₹149 Cr	₹190 Cr	+18.8%
EBITDA	₹11 Cr	-₹3 Cr	-₹5 Cr	-₹0 Cr	—
EBITDA Margin	9.3%	-2.7%	-3.7%	-0.2%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	-₹11 Cr	-₹26 Cr	-₹32 Cr	-₹32 Cr	—
EPS	₹-8.51	₹-20.83	₹-26.1	₹-25.54	—
ROE	-10.4%	-34.5%	-77.7%	-344.8%	—
ROCE	0.2%	-7.1%	-8.9%	-8.1%	—
Total Debt	₹236 Cr	₹263 Cr	₹280 Cr	₹308 Cr	+9.3%
Free Cash Flow	-₹82 Cr	-₹17 Cr	₹6 Cr	-₹1 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 18.8% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA has turned negative, from ₹11 Cr to -₹0 Cr.

🔴 EBITDA Margin has fallen from 9.3% to -0.2% over 3 years (-9.5 pts).

🔴 ROE has fallen from -10.4% to -344.8% over 3 years (-334.4 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 0.2% to -8.1% over 3 years (-8.3 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 9.3% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹408 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹399 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹2 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹3 Cr

Capex

-₹4 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

68.4%

Corporate Actions

Dividend Rate

₹0.5

Ex-Dividend Date

25 Jul 2025

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

6 general

Flex Foods Standalone March 2026 Net Sales at Rs 56.28 crore, up 23.67% Y-o-Y

Moneycontrol.com, 20 May

Flex Foods Ltd. Key Financial Ratios – Valuation, Profitability & More

Value Research, 30 Aug

Flex Foods Limited Opens Special Window for Physical Securities Transfer and Dematerialisation

scanx.trade, 20 Mar

Private Label Freeze Dried Fruits Market

Future Market Insights, 23 Jun

Flex Foods approves financial statements and director re-appointments at 36th AGM

scanx.trade, 18 Jul

Why Patanjali Foods Share Price is Rising

Equitymaster, 21 Sept

Watch Items

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

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongGrowth

WeakBusiness Quality · Financial Health · Profitability · Valuation · Risk

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

3 of 5 tripwires tripped — Free cash flow remains positive; Interest cover stays above 3x; ROCE stays above 8% · see Key things to watch ↑