Galaxy Surfactants Limited

Basic Materials — Specialty Chemicals · NSE

₹2,509.90+₹5.10 (+0.20%)

DalalBaazaar Score

47 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

NEUTRAL

Risk

Moderate

Driven by high debt relative to equity, small-cap size, which brings sharper price swings.

In simple words: Reasonable but unspectacular business quality, with both sales and profits growing well. Debt is the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 6:10 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 Galaxy Surfactants Limited — what it does, how it earns, and who it competes with, before any of the numbers below.

What does this company do?

Galaxy Surfactants Limited manufactures and sells surfactants and other specialty ingredients for the personal and home care industry in India and internationally.

IndustrySpecialty Chemicals

SectorBasic Materials

Employees1,723

Annual revenue₹5,227 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹5,227 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹5 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹9 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 1,723 employees supports ₹3.03 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

EBITDA margin9.2%

Net margin5.1%

Revenue / employee₹3.03 Cr

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are ASIAN PAINTS LIMITED, PIDILITE INDUSTRIES LTD, SRF LTD, UPL LIMITED. These are the companies its valuation and returns are measured against elsewhere in this report.

ASIAN PAINTS LIMITEDP/E 46.9x · ROE 22.3%

PIDILITE INDUSTRIES LTDP/E 57.8x · ROE 24.4%

SRF LTDP/E 33.8x · ROE 15.4%

UPL LIMITEDP/E 21.5x · ROE 6.1%

What is its competitive advantage?Little sign of one

Returns on capital of 12.2% 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.

ROCE12.2%

ROE9.7%

Peer median ROE22.3%

What is the outlook?

9 analysts covering the stock expect revenue to grow about 4.8% and earnings to fall about 2.2% in the year to 2028. These are estimates by people who follow the company, not a forecast for the wider industry.

Est. revenue growth+4.8%

Est. earnings growth-2.2%

Analysts9

What has been driving growth?

Profit has moved mainly because margins changed, not because the business sold much more. Over 3 years revenue moved +18% while net margin moved -41% 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+18%

Margin effect-41%

DalalBaazaar Score

47/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Revenue CAGR of only 5.7% — barely ahead of inflation
✗ Profit has declined at 11.1% a year
✗ Profit is compounding slower than revenue — margins are being squeezed as the business grows

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

44/ 100

Weak

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

Valuation

62/ 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

25.2x

3Y Median

25.7x

40 monthly readings · mean 26.4x · range 17.6x–35.1x

Sector Median

40.4x

median of 4 sector peers

🟡Currently trading close to its 3y median of 25.7x — the market is paying about what it usually pays for this company.

🟢Against its sector it trades 38% below the peer median of 40.4x.

vs. its own history

Fair

25.7x median over 40 months · -2%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

40.4x median of 4 peers · -38%

vs. generic bands

Fair

15x–35x

P/E (Trailing)

25.2x

P/B

3.24x

EV/EBITDA

18.7x

PEG

—

Dividend Yield

0.88%

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well2

Debt is being paid down
Total debt is down 28% over 3 years.
Consistently profitable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years.

🔴 What Needs Attention3

Margins are compressing
EBITDA margin has slipped from 13.0% to 9.2% over 3 years.
Return on equity is falling
ROE has dropped from 20.2% to 9.7% — each rupee of shareholder capital earns less than it did.
Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from 23.9% to 12.2% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.

Red Flags

3 items require attention · 1 high · 2 watch

🔴High leverageFinancial
Debt/Equity of 8.58x — earnings must service borrowings before shareholders see anything.
🟡Profit is decliningFinancial
Net profit is down 30% over 3 years.
🟡Margins are compressingFinancial
EBITDA margin is down 3.8 points over 3 years.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Deleveraging frees up earnings
Debt is down 28% over 3 years. Every rupee of interest not paid drops to the bottom line, so profit can grow even if revenue does not.
Cheaper than its peers
It trades 38% 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 13.0% to 9.2%. If the trend continues, profit falls even on flat sales — and margin decline rarely reverses quickly.
Leverage amplifies any setback
Debt/Equity of 8.58x. Interest is payable whether or not the business has a good year.
Growth barely outpaces inflation
Revenue compounding at 5.7% 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.
Returns on shareholder capital are falling
ROE has dropped from 20.2% to 9.7%. 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
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 7%✓ 9.2%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Revenue growth stays above 4% a year✓ 5.7% CAGR
Latest reported year was 39.4%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
3Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹196 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 0.5x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
5ROCE stays above 9%✓ 12.2%
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

4 good · 6 neutral · 1 weak

Market Cap

₹8,899 Cr

Small Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

25.2x

Fair

Fairly valued against the generic band

P/B Ratio

3.24x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹99.57

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

9.7%

Moderate

Moderate capital efficiency

ROCE

12.2%

Moderate

Moderate return on the capital in the business

Debt/Equity

8.58x

High

High leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

39.4%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

108.1%

Healthy

Profits growing at a healthy clip

Dividend Yield

0.88%

Modest

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

Free Cash Flow

₹196 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

CMP

₹2,509.9

P/E (Forward)

22.4x

Improving

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

Operating Margin

12.0%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

6.2%

Average

Average bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

2.40

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.52

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

84%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

2368.7 / 2286.6

Bullish alignment (short > long)

Price vs SMA 200

Above

Long-term uptrend

RSI (14)

66.0

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹4,429 Cr	₹3,765 Cr	₹4,198 Cr	₹5,227 Cr	+5.7%
EBITDA	₹577 Cr	₹496 Cr	₹496 Cr	₹483 Cr	-5.8%
EBITDA Margin	13.0%	13.2%	11.8%	9.2%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹381 Cr	₹301 Cr	₹305 Cr	₹267 Cr	-11.1%
EPS	₹107.46	₹85.03	₹86	₹75.34	-11.2%
ROE	20.2%	13.8%	12.9%	9.7%	—
ROCE	23.9%	17.1%	15.7%	12.2%	—
Total Debt	₹327 Cr	₹187 Cr	₹210 Cr	₹235 Cr	-10.4%
Free Cash Flow	₹427 Cr	₹360 Cr	₹202 Cr	₹196 Cr	-22.9%

🟢 Revenue has grown at 5.7% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA has shrunk at 5.8% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA Margin has fallen from 13.0% to 9.2% over 3 years (-3.8 pts).

🔴 PAT (Net Profit) has shrunk at 11.1% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EPS has shrunk at 11.2% a year over 3 years.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 20.2% to 9.7% over 3 years (-10.5 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 23.9% to 12.2% over 3 years (-11.7 pts).

🟢 Total Debt has shrunk at 10.4% a year over 3 years.

🔴 Free Cash Flow has shrunk at 22.9% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹3,874 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹1,129 Cr

Total Debt

₹235 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹109 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹333 Cr

Capex

-₹137 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

16.1%

Insider Holding

72.6%

Corporate Actions

Dividend Rate

₹22

Ex-Dividend Date

31 Jul 2026

Analyst Consensus

Recommendations

7 Buy · 4 Hold · 0 Sell

Target Price (Mean)

₹2,690.73

+7.2% vs CMP

Target Range

₹2,228 – ₹3,265

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
ASIAN PAINTS LIMITED	46.9x	22.3%
PIDILITE INDUSTRIES LTD	57.8x	24.4%
SRF LTD	33.8x	15.4%
UPL LIMITED	21.5x	6.1%

Recent News

5 mixed1 general

Galaxy Surfactants (GALAXYSURF) Share Price rises near 52-week high on 14 October 2026

Univest, 14 OctPrice move

🟡Mixed / dependsA price move, which is not by itself a change in the business. Worth finding the cause before reading it as either good or bad.

Galaxy Surfactants Yearly results, Financial Summary

The Economic Times, 14 OctResults

🟡Mixed / dependsA results event. The figures on this page update once the new statements reach the data feed, which usually lags the announcement.

Galaxy Surfactants (NSEI:GALAXYSURF) Stock Forecast & Analyst Predictions

Simply Wall Street, 12 OctAnalyst view

🟡Mixed / dependsBroker commentary — an opinion about the price rather than new information about the business.

Galaxy Surfactants (GALAXYSURF) Share/Stock Price Live, NSE

TechGraph, 09 Oct

Galaxy Surfactants shares hit 20% upper circuit on strong Q1 results; Indian region volume returns to double-digit

Upstox, 13 AugResults

🟡Mixed / dependsA results event. The figures on this page update once the new statements reach the data feed, which usually lags the announcement.

Galaxy Surfactants shares hit 20% upper circuit as profit doubles in Q1

Business Standard, 14 AugResults

🟡Mixed / dependsA results event. The figures on this page update once the new statements reach the data feed, which usually lags the announcement.

Watch Items

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

DalalBaazaar Thesis

🔴Business QualityWeak7.5/20

🟢Financial HealthStrong14.5/20

🔴GrowthWeak5.7/20

🔴ProfitabilityWeak5.8/15

🟡ValuationFair8.1/15

🟡RiskModerate5.7/10

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 7%9.2%
✓Revenue growth stays above 4% a year5.7% CAGR
✓Free cash flow remains positive₹196 Cr
✓Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x0.5x
✓ROCE stays above 9%12.2%