Jhandewalas Foods Limited

Consumer Defensive — Packaged Foods · BSE

₹23.00−₹0.93 (−3.89%)

DalalBaazaar Score

62 / 100

🟢 Good

Verdict

REASONABLE

Risk

Moderate

Driven by negative free cash flow, micro-cap size, which brings thin liquidity, falling profits.

In simple words: Strong business and financial position, though profits are falling even as sales grow. Cash generation is currently 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 Jhandewalas Foods Limited — what it does, how it earns, and who it competes with, before any of the numbers below.

What does this company do?

Jhandewalas Foods Limited engages in the manufacture and sale of food and dairy products in India.

IndustryPackaged Foods

SectorConsumer Defensive

Annual revenue₹175 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹175 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹3 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹5 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation.

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?Some evidence

ROCE of 17.3% 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 ROE51.0%

What has been driving growth?

Growth has come mainly from selling more, rather than from keeping more of each sale. Over 3 years revenue moved +1413% while net margin moved -537% 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+1413%

Margin effect-537%

DalalBaazaar Score

62/ 100

Good

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

• Beta of 1.11 — moves roughly with the market
✗ Micro Cap: thinner liquidity and sharper drawdowns are normal
✗ Profits have swung sharply from year to year — earnings are hard to forecast
✗ Negative free cash flow means dependence on external funding

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

62/ 100

Average

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

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

5.8x

2Y Median

5.0x

28 monthly readings · mean 5.6x · range 1.9x–14.9x

Sector Median

51.7x

median of 4 sector peers

⚠️Current valuation is approximately 17% above its 2y median of 5.0x. 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 89% below the peer median of 51.7x.

vs. its own history

Fair

5.0x median over 28 months · +17%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

51.7x median of 4 peers · -89%

vs. generic bands

Cheap

Below 15x

EV/EBITDA

5.1x

PEG

—

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well3

Debt is being paid down
Total debt is down 73% over 3 years.
Cash generation is improving
Free cash flow is up 444% over 3 years.
Very low debt
Debt/Equity of 0.22x leaves the balance sheet with plenty of headroom.

🔴 What Needs Attention0

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

Red Flags

2 items require attention · 1 high · 1 watch

🔴Significant margin compressionFinancial
EBITDA margin has fallen 22.8 points, from 27.7% to 4.9%.
🟡Shareholders have been dilutedOwnership
Shares outstanding are up 49% over 3 years — each existing share owns a smaller slice of the company.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Deleveraging frees up earnings
Debt is down 73% 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 89% below the sector median. Either the market sees a problem the numbers do not show, or the discount closes.
Self-funding with balance-sheet headroom
Positive free cash flow of ₹9 Cr alongside low debt means growth, buybacks or dividends need no outside money — and a downturn can be absorbed rather than refinanced.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

Margins are being competed away
EBITDA margin has fallen from 27.7% to 4.9%. If the trend continues, profit falls even on flat sales — and margin decline rarely reverses quickly.
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

1Revenue growth stays above 110% a year✓ 147.3% CAGR
Latest reported year was 81.8%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above 3%✓ 4.9%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹9 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 1.1x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
5ROCE stays above 14%✓ 17.3%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

8 / 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

7 good · 2 neutral · 2 weak

Market Cap

₹35 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

5.8x

Cheap

Cheap against the generic band

P/B Ratio

0.80x

Reasonable

Reasonable against the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹3.96

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

17.0%

Strong

Strong capital efficiency

ROCE

17.3%

Strong

Earns comfortably above its likely cost of capital

Debt/Equity

0.22x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

81.8%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

-28.1%

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

-₹11 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

ROA

7.3%

Average

Average asset productivity

Operating Margin

5.1%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

3.4%

Average

Average bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

2.67

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

1.11

Market-like

Moves roughly in line with the market

52W Range Position

14%

Near low

Near its 52-week low

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

22.0 / 20.8

Bullish alignment (short > long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

56.0

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹12 Cr	₹25 Cr	₹85 Cr	₹175 Cr	+147.3%
EBITDA	₹3 Cr	₹7 Cr	₹8 Cr	₹9 Cr	+38.9%
EBITDA Margin	27.7%	26.6%	9.1%	4.9%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	-₹0 Cr	₹24 Cr	₹6 Cr	₹6 Cr	—
EPS	₹-0.09	₹23.6	₹4.41	—	—
ROE	—	—	22.2%	13.7%	—
ROCE	—	—	24.6%	17.3%	—
Total Debt	₹36 Cr	₹15 Cr	₹29 Cr	₹10 Cr	-35.2%
Free Cash Flow	₹2 Cr	₹23 Cr	-₹39 Cr	₹9 Cr	+75.9%

🟢 Revenue has grown at 147.3% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 38.9% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA Margin has fallen from 27.7% to 4.9% over 3 years (-22.8 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has turned positive, from -₹0 Cr to ₹6 Cr.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 22.2% to 13.7% over 3 years (-8.4 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 24.6% to 17.3% over 3 years (-7.4 pts).

🟢 Total Debt has shrunk at 35.2% a year over 3 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has grown at 75.9% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹66 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹22 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹1 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹10 Cr

Capex

-₹0 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

63.5%

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

Jhandewalas Foods files delayed disclosure for CS resignation

scanx.trade, 10 Oct

Jhandewalas Foods gets ROC approval for 3-month AGM extension to Dec 31

scanx.trade, 30 Sept

Pradhin (BSE:530095) - Stock Analysis

Simply Wall Street, 07 Jun

Dairy Penny Stocks in India 2027: 5 Top Picks

Univest, 16 Sept

Jhandewalas Foods and Peer Group Explained

Kalkine India, 15 Sept

HERITGFOOD Stock Price and Chart — NSE:HERITGFOOD

TradingView, 28 Jul

Watch Items

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

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongFinancial Health · Growth · Valuation

MiddlingBusiness Quality · Profitability

WeakRisk

Points for each in the Score ↑

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

All 5 tripwires holding · see Key things to watch ↑