M. K. Proteins Limited

Consumer Defensive — Packaged Foods · NSE

₹3.95−₹0.01 (−0.25%)

DalalBaazaar Score

50 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

NEUTRAL

Risk

Moderate

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

In simple words: Reasonable but unspectacular business quality, though profits are falling even as sales grow. The direction of profits is the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:46 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

M. K. Proteins Limited manufactures and trades vegetable refined oil and by-products in India. It offers rice bran, sunflower, cotton seed, soya bean, palm, canola, and rice bran bleached oils.

IndustryPackaged Foods

SectorConsumer Defensive

Employees54

Annual revenue₹380 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹380 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹2 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹3 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 54 employees supports ₹7.04 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹7.04 Cr

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?Little sign of one

Returns on capital of 14.3% 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 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 +21% while net margin moved -48% 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+21%

Margin effect-48%

DalalBaazaar Score

50/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ ROE of 9.0% is weak
✗ ROE has fallen by 13.0 points over the period

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

48/ 100

Average

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

Valuation

62/ 100

Fair

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

30.4x

3Y Median

28.6x

40 monthly readings · mean 37.5x · range 17.6x–104.5x

Sector Median

51.7x

median of 4 sector peers

🟡Currently trading close to its 3y median of 28.6x — the market is paying about what it usually pays for this company.

🟢Against its sector it trades 41% below the peer median of 51.7x.

vs. its own history

Fair

28.6x median over 40 months · +6%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

51.7x median of 4 peers · -41%

vs. generic bands

Fair

15x–35x

EV/EBITDA

16.1x

PEG

—

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well3

Debt is being paid down
Total debt is down 18% 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 Attention2

Return on equity is falling
ROE has dropped from 21.9% to 9.0% — each rupee of shareholder capital earns less than it did.
Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from 31.4% to 14.3% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.

Red Flags

3 items require attention · 3 watch

🟡Profit is decliningFinancial
Net profit is down 38% over 3 years.
🟡Margins are compressingFinancial
EBITDA margin is down 2.6 points over 3 years.
🟡Inventory building faster than salesFinancial
Inventory up 54% against revenue up 21% — stock may not be moving.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Deleveraging frees up earnings
Debt is down 18% 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 41% 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 ₹4 Cr alongside low debt means growth, buybacks or dividends need no outside money — and a downturn can be absorbed rather than refinanced.
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?

Margins are being competed away
EBITDA margin has fallen from 5.6% to 3.0%. If the trend continues, profit falls even on flat sales — and margin decline rarely reverses quickly.
The debt load needs earnings to hold up
Debt is 3.2x EBITDA. At that level a downturn in earnings turns a manageable balance sheet into a refinancing problem, and lenders get paid before shareholders.
Growth barely outpaces inflation
Revenue compounding at 6.5% a year is close to the rate prices rise, so the business is gaining little ground in real terms. That leaves the share price dependent on a re-rating rather than on earnings growth.
Returns on shareholder capital are falling
ROE has dropped from 21.9% to 9.0%. 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.
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 1%✓ 3.0%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x✗ 3.2x
Already stretched, so this is a reduction target rather than a level to hold. Around 3x is where lenders typically start attaching conditions.
3Revenue growth stays above 5% a year✓ 6.5% CAGR
Latest reported year was 0.2%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
4Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹4 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
5ROCE stays above 11%✓ 14.3%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

6 / 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

3 good · 7 neutral · 1 weak

Market Cap

₹149 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

30.4x

Fair

Fairly valued against the generic band

P/B Ratio

1.96x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹0.13

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

9.0%

Moderate

Moderate capital efficiency

ROCE

14.3%

Moderate

Moderate return on the capital in the business

Debt/Equity

0.49x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

0.2%

Modest

Modest growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

-55.6%

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

Operating Margin

2.1%

Weak

Thin margins leave little room for error

Net Margin

1.2%

Weak

Very little revenue reaches the bottom line

Current Ratio

2.25

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.20

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

11%

Near low

Near its 52-week low

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

4.0 / 4.0

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

44.1

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹315 Cr	₹246 Cr	₹268 Cr	₹380 Cr	+6.5%
EBITDA	₹18 Cr	₹17 Cr	₹12 Cr	₹12 Cr	-13.2%
EBITDA Margin	5.6%	6.9%	4.7%	3.0%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹11 Cr	₹11 Cr	₹8 Cr	₹7 Cr	-14.5%
EPS	₹0.29	₹0.3	₹0.22	₹0.18	-14.7%
ROE	21.9%	18.4%	12.1%	9.0%	—
ROCE	31.4%	26.5%	17.5%	14.3%	—
Total Debt	₹46 Cr	₹20 Cr	₹39 Cr	₹37 Cr	-6.6%
Free Cash Flow	-₹6 Cr	₹27 Cr	-₹18 Cr	₹4 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 6.5% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA has shrunk at 13.2% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA Margin has fallen from 5.6% to 3.0% over 3 years (-2.6 pts).

🔴 PAT (Net Profit) has shrunk at 14.5% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EPS has shrunk at 14.7% a year over 3 years.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 21.9% to 9.0% over 3 years (-13.0 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 31.4% to 14.3% over 3 years (-17.1 pts).

🟢 Total Debt has shrunk at 6.6% a year over 3 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has turned positive, from -₹6 Cr to ₹4 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹131 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹55 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹0 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹5 Cr

Capex

-₹2 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

74.8%

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

2 mixed1 negative3 general

M K Proteins Limited (MKPL.NS) Slips 1.26% to ₹3.92 as Support Zone Comes Into Focus - Fear Greed Extreme

https://www.siam.in/, 29 Sept

Unpleasant Surprises Could Be In Store For M. K. Proteins Limited's (NSE:MKPL) Shares

Simply Wall Street, 21 Jan

M K Proteins Q1 FY27 Results: Revenue Flat, PAT Halves to Rs 1 Cr

Univest, 14 AugResults

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

M K Proteins FY26 net profit falls 18.7% to ₹682.90 lakh

scanx.trade, 01 JunResults

🔴Potentially negativeReported deterioration, which feeds the growth and margin inputs on this page directly.

M K Proteins Stock (NSE: MKPROT) Falls to 52-Week Low Amid Volatility

Kalkine India, 30 Mar

Why Is MK Proteins Share Price Falling Key Reasons 2026

Univest, 17 JunPrice move

🟡Mixed / dependsA price move rather than a change in the business. If the figures on this page have not moved, the fall is either an opportunity or news they have yet to catch up with.

Watch Items

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

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongFinancial Health

MiddlingValuation · Risk

WeakBusiness Quality · Growth · Profitability

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 of 5 tripwires tripped — Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x · see Key things to watch ↑