Lancer Container Lines Limited

Industrials — Integrated Freight & Logistics · NSE

₹11.20+₹0.30 (+2.75%)

DalalBaazaar Score

40 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

High

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

In simple words: The business is earning a fairly low return on the money invested in it, 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, 8:28 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Lancer Container Lines Limited, together with its subsidiaries, provides shipping and logistics services worldwide. The company offers non-vessel operating common carrier and container trading.

IndustryIntegrated Freight & Logistics

SectorIndustrials

Employees112

Annual revenue₹394 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹394 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹1 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹9 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 112 employees supports ₹3.52 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹3.52 Cr

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD., SIEMENS LTD, ABB INDIA 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?Little sign of one

Returns on capital of 1.7% 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 ROE15.2%

What has been driving growth?

Sales and margins have both contributed to where profit is now. Over 3 years revenue moved -53% while net margin moved -78% 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-53%

Margin effect-78%

DalalBaazaar Score

40/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Revenue has contracted at 22.2% a year
✗ Profit has declined at 52.7% a year

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

33/ 100

Weak

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

Valuation

73/ 100

Cheap

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

Optically cheap, but the underlying business scores poorly. Cheap-and-weak is what a value trap looks like from the outside — the low price may be deserved.

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

20.4x

Sector Median

88.8x

median of 3 sector peers

🟢Against its sector it trades 77% below the peer median of 88.8x.

vs. its own history

Not enough price and earnings history

vs. sector peers

Cheap

88.8x median of 3 peers · -77%

vs. generic bands

Fair

15x–35x

EV/EBITDA

11.6x

PEG

—

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well2

Debt is being paid down
Total debt is down 90% over 3 years.
Cash flow has turned positive
Free cash flow moved from negative to positive over 3 years.

🔴 What Needs Attention2

Return on equity is falling
ROE has dropped from 29.3% to 0.8% — each rupee of shareholder capital earns less than it did.
Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from 17.7% to 1.7% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.

Red Flags

7 items require attention · 4 high · 3 watch

🔴High leverageFinancial
Debt/Equity of 4.22x — earnings must service borrowings before shareholders see anything.
🔴Profit up while operating cash flow fallsFinancial
Reported profit rose but cash generated by operations declined — worth checking whether earnings are being supported by non-cash items or working capital.
🔴Receivables growing faster than salesFinancial
Receivables up 23% against revenue up -53% — sales are being booked faster than they are collected.
🔴Inventory building faster than salesFinancial
Inventory up 75% against revenue up -53% — stock may not be moving.
🟡Profit is decliningFinancial
Net profit is down 89% over 3 years.
🟡Margins are compressingFinancial
EBITDA margin is down 2.2 points over 3 years.
🟡Shareholders have been dilutedOwnership
Shares outstanding are up 91% 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 90% 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 77% below the sector median. Either the market sees a problem the numbers do not show, or the discount closes.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

Margins are being competed away
EBITDA margin has fallen from 11.5% to 9.3%. If the trend continues, profit falls even on flat sales — and margin decline rarely reverses quickly.
Leverage amplifies any setback
Debt/Equity of 4.22x. Interest is payable whether or not the business has a good year.
Sales are being booked faster than collected
Receivables are up 23% against revenue up -53%. If customers keep taking longer to pay, reported profit will not turn into cash — and write-offs follow if some never do.
Returns on shareholder capital are falling
ROE has dropped from 29.3% to 0.8%. 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.
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.

🟡 Key Things to WatchMeasurable tripwires, set against where this company stands today

1EBITDA margin holds above 7%✓ 9.3%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Interest cover stays above 3x✗ 2.1x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.
3Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹6 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 0.8x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
5ROCE stays above 8%✗ 1.7%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

6 / 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
✗ 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

Price history

Quick Metrics

5 good · 3 neutral · 3 weak

Market Cap

₹416 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

20.4x

Fair

Fairly valued against the generic band

P/B Ratio

0.42x

Reasonable

Reasonable against the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹0.55

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

0.8%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

1.7%

Weak

Low return on total capital employed

Debt/Equity

4.22x

High

High leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

23.2%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

1732.4%

Healthy

Profits growing at a healthy clip

Dividend Yield

None

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

Free Cash Flow

₹6 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

Operating Margin

0.5%

Weak

Thin margins leave little room for error

Net Margin

3.7%

Average

Average bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

1.70

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

-0.06

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

Near low

Near its 52-week low

Technical Snapshot

RSI (14)

38.9

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹837 Cr	₹633 Cr	₹699 Cr	₹394 Cr	-22.2%
EBITDA	₹96 Cr	₹94 Cr	₹30 Cr	₹36 Cr	-27.5%
EBITDA Margin	11.5%	14.8%	4.3%	9.3%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹54 Cr	₹58 Cr	-₹0 Cr	₹6 Cr	-52.7%
EPS	₹2.53	₹2.57	₹-0.01	₹0.21	-56.4%
ROE	29.3%	14.6%	-0.1%	0.8%	—
ROCE	17.7%	16.4%	1.3%	1.7%	—
Total Debt	₹283 Cr	₹113 Cr	₹66 Cr	₹30 Cr	-52.9%
Free Cash Flow	-₹291 Cr	₹1 Cr	-₹33 Cr	₹6 Cr	—

🔴 Revenue has shrunk at 22.2% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA has shrunk at 27.5% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA Margin has fallen from 11.5% to 9.3% over 3 years (-2.2 pts).

🔴 PAT (Net Profit) has shrunk at 52.7% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EPS has shrunk at 56.4% a year over 3 years.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 29.3% to 0.8% over 3 years (-28.5 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 17.7% to 1.7% over 3 years (-16.0 pts).

🟢 Total Debt has shrunk at 52.9% a year over 3 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has turned positive, from -₹291 Cr to ₹6 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹839 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹137 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹24 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹9 Cr

Capex

-₹3 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

1.6%

Insider Holding

62.7%

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD.	30.1x	15.2%
SIEMENS LTD	88.8x	10.5%
ABB INDIA LIMITED	92.6x	19.1%

Recent News

2 mixed4 general

Lancer Container Lines holds listing ceremony at NSE on Oct 14, 2026

scanx.trade, 14 Oct

Lancer Container Lines Q1 FY27 Results Preview

Univest, 09 JulResults

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

Lancer Containers Lines reports consolidated net profit of Rs 5.24 crore in the June 2026 quarter

Business Standard, 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.

Lancer Container Lines Sets Up Step-Down Subsidiaries in Malaysia and Oman

scanx.trade, 07 Aug

Lancer Containers Lines Ltd Falls to 52-Week Low of Rs 7.16 as Sell-Off Deepens

MarketsMojo, 01 Apr

Lancer Container Lines allots shares to convert ₹20 cr loan

scanx.trade, 14 Jul

Watch Items

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.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongValuation

MiddlingFinancial Health

WeakBusiness Quality · Growth · Profitability · Risk

Points for each in the Score ↑

Cheap, but for a reason

The low price is the whole case here, and the business underneath scores poorly. Cheap-and-weak is what a value trap looks like from the outside — it needs a specific reason the numbers are about to improve, not just the observation that they are low. 4 high-severity red flags sit above this conclusion and should be read first.

2 of 5 tripwires tripped — Interest cover stays above 3x; ROCE stays above 8% · see Key things to watch ↑