Kaya Limited

Consumer Defensive — Household & Personal Products · NSE

₹318.00−₹10.65 (−3.24%)

DalalBaazaar Score

16 / 100

🔴 Poor

Verdict

HIGH RISK

Risk

Very High

Driven by negative shareholders' equity — the company owes more than it owns, short-term liabilities exceed short-term assets, negative free cash flow.

In simple words: The company owes more than it owns — years of losses have wiped out its net worth, though profits are falling even as sales grow. Solvency — whether it can keep funding itself at all — is the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:01 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Kaya Limited engages in the provision of skin and hair care solutions through scientific dermatological procedures and products in India.

IndustryHousehold & Personal Products

SectorConsumer Defensive

Employees693

Annual revenue₹222 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹222 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹-43 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹-4 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 693 employees supports ₹32.1 lakh of revenue a year, the signature of a people-led business.

Revenue / employee₹32.1 lakh

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LTD., DABUR INDIA LTD, ITC LTD, BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES 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 -61.0% 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 ROE27.4%

What has been driving growth?

Sales and margins have both contributed to where profit is now. Over 3 years revenue moved -41% while net margin moved +40% 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-41%

Margin effect+40%

DalalBaazaar Score

16/ 100

Poor

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Shareholders' equity is negative — accumulated losses exceed the capital in the business

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

15/ 100

Weak

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

Valuation

30/ 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

Multiples unreliable — equity base is negative

EV/EBITDA

—

PEG

—

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well1

Margins are improving
EBITDA margin is up from -6.4% to -4.3% over 3 years.

🔴 What Needs Attention0

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

Red Flags

6 items require attention · 3 high · 3 watch

🔴Negative shareholders' equityFinancial
Liabilities exceed assets — accumulated losses have wiped out the company's net worth.
🔴Thin interest coverageFinancial
Operating profit covers interest only -2.0x — little room if earnings dip.
🔴The company is lossmakingFinancial
Net profit of -₹96 Cr in the latest reported year.
🟡Interest coverage is deterioratingFinancial
Cover has fallen from -0.2x to -2.0x.
🟡Free cash flow is negativeFinancial
Free cash flow was -₹20 Cr in the latest year.
🟡Short-term liquidity is tightFinancial
Current ratio of 0.42 — near-term obligations exceed near-term assets.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Margin expansion has further to run
EBITDA margin has risen from -6.4% to -4.3%. If that holds, profit compounds faster than sales and today's multiple looks cheaper in hindsight than it does now.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

Solvency comes before everything else
Liabilities exceed assets. Until net worth is rebuilt, the equity is a claim on a business that owes more than it owns, and further losses or a funding squeeze can leave shareholders with nothing.
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
3 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

1EBITDA margin holds above -6%✓ -4.3%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹20 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
3Interest cover stays above 3x✗ -2.0x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.

Investment Checklist

3 / 10 checks passed

✗ Shareholders' equity is positive (assets exceed liabilities)
✗ 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

1 good · 4 neutral · 6 weak

Market Cap

₹483 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

Not available

No data

Source didn't return this field

EPS (TTM)

₹-66.87

Loss-making

Negative earnings per share — the business is losing money

ROE

Not meaningful

Negative equity

Return on equity can't be read when equity itself is negative

ROCE

-61.0%

Distorted

Distorted by the negative net worth — read this alongside the solvency flag, not on its own

Debt/Equity

Not meaningful

Negative equity

Shareholders' equity is negative, so this ratio can't be read

Revenue Growth (YoY)

13.9%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

-214.9%

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

-₹20 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

P/E (Forward)

20.3x

Operating Margin

-11.6%

Weak

Thin margins leave little room for error

Net Margin

-42.3%

Weak

Very little revenue reaches the bottom line

Current Ratio

0.42

Tight

Tight short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.48

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

37%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

314.8 / 323.3

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Above

Long-term uptrend

RSI (14)

51.1

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹377 Cr	₹204 Cr	₹216 Cr	₹222 Cr	-16.1%
EBITDA	-₹24 Cr	-₹10 Cr	₹23 Cr	-₹9 Cr	—
EBITDA Margin	-6.4%	-5.1%	10.4%	-4.3%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	-₹116 Cr	-₹129 Cr	₹84 Cr	-₹96 Cr	—
EPS	₹-89.15	₹-98.91	₹63.94	₹-66.67	—
ROCE	-69.1%	-752.7%	-6.9%	-61.0%	—
Total Debt	₹249 Cr	₹301 Cr	₹256 Cr	₹296 Cr	+5.9%
Free Cash Flow	₹38 Cr	₹3 Cr	-₹29 Cr	-₹20 Cr	—

🔴 Revenue has shrunk at 16.1% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from -6.4% to -4.3% over 3 years (+2.1 pts).

🟢 ROCE has risen from -69.1% to -61.0% over 3 years (+8.1 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 5.9% a year over 3 years.

🔴 Free Cash Flow has turned negative, from ₹38 Cr to -₹20 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹278 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹431 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹1 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹21 Cr

Capex

-₹41 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

13.8%

Insider Holding

52.6%

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LTD.	42.5x	21.5%
DABUR INDIA LTD	34.7x	17.2%
ITC LTD	16.6x	27.4%
BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES LTD	44.1x	51.0%

Recent News

1 mixed5 general

Kaya vs Nifty 50: Share Price Performance Compared

Univest, 01 Oct

Kaya publishes EGM notice for ₹50 crore preferential issue

scanx.trade, 05 Aug

Kaya Ltd. Share Price Up 8.32%: Price, Valuation Analysis

Univest, 20 AugPrice 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.

Turkey: Stock market scandal hits half a million investors

DW.com, 02 Oct

Turkiye’s ruling-party deputy chair steps down after share trading allegations

Arab News, 27 Sept

Kaya Ltd revises shareholding pattern for ₹274.10 preferential issue

scanx.trade, 29 Sept

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.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

WeakBusiness Quality · Financial Health · Growth · Profitability · Valuation · Risk

Points for each in the Score ↑

Avoid until solvency is resolved

Kaya Limited owes more than it owns. Whatever the operating numbers show, the equity is a residual claim on a business with negative net worth, and that question has to be settled before any of the rest is worth weighing. 3 high-severity red flags sit above this conclusion and should be read first.

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