James Warren Tea Limited

Consumer Defensive — Farm Products · BSE

₹241.65−₹3.90 (−1.59%)

DalalBaazaar Score

56 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

Moderate

Driven by micro-cap size, which brings thin liquidity, falling profits.

In simple words: The business is earning a fairly low return on the money invested in it, but sales are shrinking. The direction of profits is 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 James Warren Tea Limited — what it does, how it earns, and who it competes with, before any of the numbers below.

What does this company do?

James Warren Tea Limited engages in the cultivation, manufacture, and sale of tea in India. It primarily offers CTC and orthodox tea products.

IndustryFarm Products

SectorConsumer Defensive

Employees3,538

Annual revenue₹110 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹110 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹11 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹12 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 3,538 employees supports ₹3.1 lakh of revenue a year, the signature of a people-led business.

EBITDA margin12.1%

Net margin11.2%

Revenue / employee₹3.1 lakh

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LTD., ITC LTD, NESTLE INDIA LIMITED, BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES LTD. These are the companies its valuation and returns are measured against elsewhere in this report.

HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LTD.P/E 42.5x · ROE 21.5%

ITC LTDP/E 16.6x · ROE 27.4%

NESTLE INDIA LIMITEDP/E 59.8x · ROE 79.9%

BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES LTDP/E 44.1x · ROE 51.0%

What is its competitive advantage?Little sign of one

Returns on capital of 6.6% 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.

ROCE6.6%

ROE6.3%

Peer median ROE51.0%

What has been driving growth?

Profit has moved mainly because margins changed, not because the business sold much more. Over 3 years revenue moved -12% while net margin moved +49% 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-12%

Margin effect+49%

DalalBaazaar Score

56/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Revenue has contracted at 4.3% a year
• Profit CAGR of 9.4%
✗ Latest-year revenue growth of -33.1% is below the longer-term trend — momentum is fading
✗ Profit fell 87.7% in the latest year

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

54/ 100

Average

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

Valuation

78/ 100

Cheap

What you are being asked to pay, ignoring how good the business is.

A reasonable business at a reasonable price — neither the quality nor the valuation stands out in either direction.

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

11.7x

3Y Median

10.4x

40 monthly readings · mean 25.2x · range 0.9x–84.6x

Sector Median

43.3x

median of 4 sector peers

⚠️Current valuation is approximately 13% above its 3y median of 10.4x. Paying more than usual needs a reason — faster growth, a better balance sheet, or a re-rating you believe in.

🟢Against its sector it trades 73% below the peer median of 43.3x.

vs. its own history

Fair

10.4x median over 40 months · +13%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

43.3x median of 4 peers · -73%

vs. generic bands

Cheap

Below 15x

P/E (Trailing)

11.7x

P/B

0.45x

EV/EBITDA

6.6x

PEG

1.25

Dividend Yield

None

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well3

Margins are improving
EBITDA margin is up from 7.8% to 12.1% over 3 years.
Cash flow has turned positive
Free cash flow moved from negative to positive over 3 years.
Consistently profitable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years.

🔴 What Needs Attention1

Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from 8.9% to 6.6% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.

Red Flags

No automated checks triggered

None of the automated financial checks below were triggered on the years of data available. That is not the same as a clean bill of health — see what could not be checked.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Margin expansion has further to run
EBITDA margin has risen from 7.8% to 12.1%. If that holds, profit compounds faster than sales and today's multiple looks cheaper in hindsight than it does now.
Cheaper than its peers
It trades 73% 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?

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 10%✓ 12.1%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹4 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
3ROCE stays above 8%✗ 6.6%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.
4Valuation vs its own median of 10.4x✓ 11.7x today
A re-rating above its own history needs a reason; without one it is just a higher price.

Investment Checklist

4 / 10 checks passed

✗ Strong return on equity (ROE ≥ 15%)
✗ Strong return on capital employed (ROCE ≥ 15%)
✗ Healthy net margin (≥ 10%)
✓ Generates positive free cash flow
✓ 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

4 good · 3 neutral · 4 weak

Market Cap

₹89 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

11.7x

Cheap

Cheap against the generic band

P/B Ratio

0.45x

Reasonable

Reasonable against the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹20.62

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

6.3%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

6.6%

Weak

Low return on total capital employed

Debt/Equity

Not available

No data

Source didn't return this field

Revenue Growth (YoY)

-33.1%

Shrinking

Sales are contracting

Profit Growth (YoY)

-87.7%

Falling

Profits are shrinking

Dividend Yield

None

No dividend yield reported — usually means no payout, but verify if one was recently initiated

Free Cash Flow

₹4 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

CMP

₹241.65

Operating Margin

22.5%

Good

Healthy core-business profitability

Net Margin

7.4%

Average

Average bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

9.05

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.20

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

Near low

Near its 52-week low

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

252.6 / 256.0

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

35.8

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹126 Cr	₹113 Cr	₹161 Cr	₹110 Cr	-4.3%
EBITDA	₹10 Cr	-₹1 Cr	₹32 Cr	₹13 Cr	+10.5%
EBITDA Margin	7.8%	-0.8%	19.9%	12.1%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹9 Cr	₹2 Cr	₹101 Cr	₹12 Cr	+9.4%
EPS	₹21.56	₹4.77	₹274.04	₹33.57	+15.9%
ROE	9.2%	2.2%	54.0%	6.3%	—
ROCE	8.9%	1.6%	53.9%	6.6%	—
Free Cash Flow	-₹0 Cr	-₹17 Cr	₹22 Cr	₹4 Cr	—

🔴 Revenue has shrunk at 4.3% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 10.5% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from 7.8% to 12.1% over 3 years (+4.2 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 9.4% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EPS has grown at 15.9% a year over 3 years.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 9.2% to 6.3% over 3 years (-2.9 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 8.9% to 6.6% over 3 years (-2.3 pts).

🟢 Free Cash Flow has turned positive, from -₹0 Cr to ₹4 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹221 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹23 Cr

Total Debt

—

Cash & Equivalents

₹1 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹8 Cr

Capex

-₹4 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

70.7%

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LTD.	42.5x	21.5%
ITC LTD	16.6x	27.4%
NESTLE INDIA LIMITED	59.8x	79.9%
BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES LTD	44.1x	51.0%

Recent News

1 positive1 mixed4 general

Five Consecutive Losses Push James Warren Tea Ltd. to a New 52-Week Low

MarketsMojo, 16 Oct

52 Week Low Shares BSE | 52 Week Low Today | Shares Trading 52 Week Low BSE

Livemint, 16 Oct

James Warren Tea Q1 FY27 Results: Revenue, PAT & Key Highlights

Univest, 10 AugResults

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

James Warren Tea AGM approves FY26 financials; 99.98% vote in favour

scanx.trade, 09 Sept

Eveready Industries India consolidated net profit rises 22.30% in the June 2026 quarter

Business Standard, 08 AugResults

🟢Potentially positiveReported improvement. Check whether it came from volume, price or a one-off item before treating it as a trend.

NEAGI Stock Price and Chart — NSE:NEAGI

TradingView, 21 Apr

Watch Items

Revenue growth is negative (-33.1%) on the latest reported period — check if this is one-off or a trend.
Trading very close to its 52-week low — worth checking whether this reflects a temporary setback or a structural problem.
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.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

🟡Business QualityAdequate9/20

🟢Financial HealthStrong17.3/20

🔴GrowthWeak7.7/20

🔴ProfitabilityWeak6.2/15

🟢ValuationAttractive11.8/15

🔴RiskHigh4.4/10

Unremarkable in both directions

A reasonable business at a reasonable price. Nothing here is alarming and nothing is compelling, which usually means the decision rests on things this data cannot see — the industry's direction, management's intent, and what else is available to you.

This thesis breaks if

✓EBITDA margin holds above 10%12.1%
✓Free cash flow remains positive₹4 Cr
✗ROCE stays above 8%6.6%
✓Valuation vs its own median of 10.4x11.7x today