HCP Plastene Bulkpack Limited

Consumer Cyclical — Packaging & Containers · BSE

₹338.25+₹2.65 (+0.79%)

DalalBaazaar Score

66 / 100

🟢 Good

Verdict

REASONABLE

Risk

High

Driven by high debt relative to equity, micro-cap size, which brings thin liquidity.

In simple words: Strong business and financial position, 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, 6:59 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

HCP Plastene Bulkpack Limited provides plastic packaging solutions in India. It operates in two segments, Woven Sack and Woven Label.

IndustryPackaging & Containers

SectorConsumer Cyclical

Employees110

Annual revenue₹588 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹588 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹4 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹12 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 110 employees supports ₹5.34 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹5.34 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 35.7% 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 has been driving growth?

Profit has moved mainly because margins changed, not because the business sold much more. Over 3 years revenue moved +68% while net margin moved -725% 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-725%

DalalBaazaar Score

66/ 100

Good

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Beta of 1.26 — amplifies market moves in both directions
✗ Micro Cap: thinner liquidity and sharper drawdowns are normal
✗ High leverage magnifies any downturn in earnings
✗ Profits have swung sharply from year to year — earnings are hard to forecast

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

68/ 100

Good

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

Valuation

80/ 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

8.7x

1.3Y Median

19.1x

16 monthly readings · mean 19.5x · range 12.2x–29.8x

Sector Median

69.2x

median of 4 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 54% below its 1.3y median of 19.1x. 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 87% below the peer median of 69.2x.

vs. its own history

Cheap

19.1x median over 16 months · -54%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

69.2x median of 4 peers · -87%

vs. generic bands

Cheap

Below 15x

EV/EBITDA

8.7x

PEG

—

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well4

Margins are improving
EBITDA margin is up from 4.5% to 11.6% over 3 years.
Return on equity is rising
ROE has improved from -4.4% to 28.3%.
Return on capital is rising
ROCE has improved from 7.3% to 35.7%.
High return on capital employed
ROCE of 35.7% is the mark of a business that converts capital into profit efficiently.

🔴 What Needs Attention0

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

Red Flags

5 items require attention · 5 high

🔴Debt has risen sharplyFinancial
Total debt is up 99% over 3 years, from ₹123 Cr to ₹246 Cr.
🔴High leverageFinancial
Debt/Equity of 2.29x — earnings must service borrowings before shareholders see anything.
🔴Free cash flow negative for 3 yearsFinancial
The business has not covered its capital spending from operations for several years running, which has to be funded externally.
🔴Receivables growing faster than salesFinancial
Receivables up 316% against revenue up 68% — sales are being booked faster than they are collected.
🔴Inventory building faster than salesFinancial
Inventory up 195% against revenue up 68% — stock may not be moving.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Capital compounds at a high rate
ROCE of 35.7% 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.
Margin expansion has further to run
EBITDA margin has risen from 4.5% to 11.6%. 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 54% 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 87% below the sector median. Either the market sees a problem the numbers do not show, or the discount closes.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

The debt load needs earnings to hold up
Debt is 3.6x EBITDA. At that level a downturn in earnings turns a manageable balance sheet into a refinancing problem, and lenders get paid before shareholders.
Sales are being booked faster than collected
Receivables are up 316% against revenue up 68%. If customers keep taking longer to pay, reported profit will not turn into cash — and write-offs follow if some never do.
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
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 38.5%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above 10%✓ 11.6%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x✗ 3.6x
Already stretched, so this is a reduction target rather than a level to hold. Around 3x is where lenders typically start attaching conditions.
4Interest cover stays above 3x✗ 2.9x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.
5Free cash flow remains positive✗ not reported
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.

Investment Checklist

8 / 10 checks passed

✓ Strong return on equity (ROE ≥ 15%)
✓ Strong return on capital employed (ROCE ≥ 15%)
✗ Healthy net margin (≥ 10%)
✗ 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

6 good · 4 neutral · 1 weak

Market Cap

₹362 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

8.7x

Cheap

Cheap against the generic band

P/B Ratio

4.33x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹38.76

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

28.3%

Strong

Strong capital efficiency

ROCE

35.7%

Strong

Earns comfortably above its likely cost of capital

Debt/Equity

2.29x

High

High leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

38.5%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

141.0%

Healthy

Profits growing at a healthy clip

Dividend Yield

0.59%

Modest

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

Free Cash Flow

Not available

No data

Source didn't return this field

More Metrics

Operating Margin

17.8%

Good

Healthy core-business profitability

Net Margin

5.2%

Average

Average bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

1.34

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

1.26

Market-like

Moves roughly in line with the market

52W Range Position

75%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

356.7 / 299.1

Bullish alignment (short > long)

Price vs SMA 200

Above

Long-term uptrend

RSI (14)

24.8

Oversold zone

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹350 Cr	₹289 Cr	₹463 Cr	₹588 Cr	+18.8%
EBITDA	₹16 Cr	₹16 Cr	₹40 Cr	₹68 Cr	+63.0%
EBITDA Margin	4.5%	5.7%	8.6%	11.6%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	-₹2 Cr	-₹1 Cr	₹10 Cr	₹23 Cr	—
EPS	₹-1.06	₹-1.11	₹8.96	₹21.6	—
ROE	-4.4%	-2.4%	16.2%	28.3%	—
ROCE	7.3%	7.9%	28.3%	35.7%	—
Total Debt	₹123 Cr	₹158 Cr	₹190 Cr	₹246 Cr	+25.8%
Free Cash Flow	-₹35 Cr	-₹24 Cr	-₹19 Cr	—	—

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

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 63.0% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from 4.5% to 11.6% over 3 years (+7.1 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has turned positive, from -₹2 Cr to ₹23 Cr.

🟢 EPS has turned positive, from ₹-1.06 to ₹21.6.

🟢 ROE has risen from -4.4% to 28.3% over 3 years (+32.7 pts).

🟢 ROCE has risen from 7.3% to 35.7% over 3 years (+28.4 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 25.8% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹378 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹271 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹15 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

—

Capex

—

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

88.6%

Corporate Actions

Dividend Rate

₹2

Ex-Dividend Date

14 Nov 2025

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

6 general

HPBL Stock Price and Chart — BSE:HPBL

TradingView, 15 Jul

HCP Plastene Bulkpack Ltd. Lower Circuit Streak: Day 2 Price and Data

Univest, 01 Oct

HCP Plastene Bulkpack completes dispatch of 42nd AGM notice and annual report

scanx.trade, 03 Sept

HCP Plastene Bulkpack Ltd. Lower Circuit Today: Price, Data and Peers

Univest, 30 Sept

HCP Plastene Bulkpack Commences Commercial Operations at New Vadodara Manufacturing Unit

scanx.trade, 25 Feb

HCP Plastene Bulkpack (BSE:526717) - Stock Analysis

Simply Wall Street, 03 Nov

Watch Items

Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.
1 metric couldn't be retrieved for this stock — this is more common for smaller or thinly-covered listings.
RSI is in oversold territory — could mean either a bargain or a stock still falling for good reason. Check the 'why' before assuming reversal.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongGrowth · Profitability · Valuation

MiddlingBusiness Quality

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

3 of 5 tripwires tripped — Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x; Interest cover stays above 3x; Free cash flow remains positive · see Key things to watch ↑