Natraj Proteins Limited

Consumer Defensive — Packaged Foods · BSE

₹39.00−₹0.89 (−2.23%)

DalalBaazaar Score

48 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

NEUTRAL

Risk

High

Driven by moderate debt load, negative free cash flow, 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. 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 Natraj Proteins Limited — what it does, how it earns, and who it competes with, before any of the numbers below.

What does this company do?

Natraj Proteins Limited manufactures and sells oil seeds and refining of soya crude oil for edible use in India. The company offers soyabean oil, fats, and de-oiled cakes; and oil meal, food products from soya, and value-added products from downstream and upstream processing.

IndustryPackaged Foods

SectorConsumer Defensive

Employees39

Annual revenue₹101 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹101 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹1 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹4 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 39 employees supports ₹2.59 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹2.59 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 9.9% 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 -30% while net margin moved +126% 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-30%

Margin effect+126%

DalalBaazaar Score

48/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ ROE of 3.4% is weak

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

41/ 100

Weak

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

Valuation

84/ 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

3.3x

3Y Median

22.0x

40 monthly readings · mean 21.6x · range 12.6x–32.9x

Sector Median

51.7x

median of 4 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 85% below its 3y median of 22.0x. Cheaper than its own history, which is worth a reason too: the market may be pricing in something the backward-looking numbers do not show.

🟢Against its sector it trades 94% below the peer median of 51.7x.

vs. its own history

Cheap

22.0x median over 40 months · -85%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

51.7x median of 4 peers · -94%

vs. generic bands

Cheap

Below 15x

EV/EBITDA

13.5x

PEG

0.20

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well1

Return on capital is rising
ROCE has improved from 5.5% to 9.9%.

🔴 What Needs Attention0

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

Red Flags

3 items require attention · 2 high · 1 watch

🔴Thin interest coverageFinancial
Operating profit covers interest only 1.5x — little room if earnings dip.
🔴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.
🟡Free cash flow is negativeFinancial
Free cash flow was -₹14 Cr in the latest year.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Priced below its own history
The stock trades 85% below its own median multiple. If the business performs as it has and simply re-rates back to normal, that gap is return on its own.
Cheaper than its peers
It trades 94% below the sector median. Either the market sees a problem the numbers do not show, or the discount closes.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

The debt load needs earnings to hold up
Debt is 9.6x EBITDA. At that level a downturn in earnings turns a manageable balance sheet into a refinancing problem, and lenders get paid before shareholders.
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
2 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 2%✓ 3.7%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x✗ 9.6x
Already stretched, so this is a reduction target rather than a level to hold. Around 3x is where lenders typically start attaching conditions.
3Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹14 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Interest cover stays above 3x✗ 1.5x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.
5ROCE stays above 8%✓ 9.9%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

5 / 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

5 good · 4 neutral · 2 weak

Market Cap

₹15 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

3.3x

Cheap

Cheap against the generic band

P/B Ratio

0.44x

Reasonable

Reasonable against the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹11.89

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

3.4%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

9.9%

Moderate

Moderate return on the capital in the business

Debt/Equity

1.08x

Moderate

Moderate leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

18.3%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

177.6%

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

-₹14 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

Operating Margin

8.6%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

4.2%

Average

Average bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

1.47

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.09

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

62%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

39.3 / 39.5

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Above

Long-term uptrend

RSI (14)

50.0

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹144 Cr	₹194 Cr	₹118 Cr	₹101 Cr	-11.0%
EBITDA	₹3 Cr	-₹9 Cr	₹1 Cr	₹4 Cr	+4.8%
EBITDA Margin	2.3%	-4.9%	1.2%	3.7%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹1 Cr	-₹13 Cr	-₹1 Cr	₹1 Cr	+16.8%
EPS	₹1.9	₹-33.41	₹-3.9	₹3.03	+16.8%
ROE	1.5%	-37.1%	-4.5%	3.4%	—
ROCE	5.5%	-27.2%	3.2%	9.9%	—
Total Debt	₹34 Cr	₹40 Cr	₹23 Cr	₹36 Cr	+2.3%
Free Cash Flow	₹1 Cr	-₹6 Cr	₹21 Cr	-₹14 Cr	—

🔴 Revenue has shrunk at 11.0% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 4.8% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from 2.3% to 3.7% over 3 years (+1.4 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 16.8% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EPS has grown at 16.8% a year over 3 years.

🟢 ROE has risen from 1.5% to 3.4% over 3 years (+1.9 pts).

🟢 ROCE has risen from 5.5% to 9.9% over 3 years (+4.4 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 2.3% a year over 3 years.

🔴 Free Cash Flow has turned negative, from ₹1 Cr to -₹14 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹76 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹43 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹0 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

-₹14 Cr

Capex

-₹0 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

1.9%

Insider Holding

55.1%

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

1 positive1 mixed4 general

Natraj Proteins Ltd. Key Financial Ratios – Valuation, Profitability & More

Value Research, 29 Aug

Natraj Proteins turns profitable in FY26 with ₹113.51 lakh net profit

scanx.trade, 29 Sept

Edible Oil Penny Stocks in India 2027: 5 Picks

Univest, 16 Sept

Hindustan Tin Works standalone net profit rises 38.04% in the June 2026 quarter

Business Standard, 14 AugResults

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

Q4 results: Sun Pharma, Eicher Motors, and Colgate among 187 on May 22

Business Standard, 22 MayResults

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

SIMBHALS Stock Price and Chart — NSE:SIMBHALS

TradingView, 29 Jul

Watch Items

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

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongValuation

MiddlingGrowth

WeakBusiness Quality · Financial Health · 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. 2 high-severity red flags sit above this conclusion and should be read first.

3 of 5 tripwires tripped — Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x; Free cash flow remains positive; Interest cover stays above 3x · see Key things to watch ↑