The Phosphate Company Limited

Basic Materials — Agricultural Inputs · BSE

₹136.10₹0.00 (0.00%)

DalalBaazaar Score

48 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

NEUTRAL

Risk

Low

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

In simple words: The business is earning a fairly low return on the money invested in it, 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, 6:58 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

The Phosphate Company Limited engages in the engages in manufacturing and trading of farm inputs in India. It operates through Fertiliser (P&K, DAP) and Others segments. The company offers fertilizer, crop protection, specialty nutrients, acids, and organic compost products.

IndustryAgricultural Inputs

SectorBasic Materials

Employees46

Annual revenue₹144 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹144 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹3 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹7 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 46 employees supports ₹3.13 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹3.13 Cr

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are TATA STEEL LIMITED, JSW STEEL LIMITED, ULTRATECH CEMENT LIMITED, ASIAN PAINTS 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 9.0% 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 ROE22.3%

What has been driving growth?

Sales and margins have both contributed to where profit is now. Over 3 years revenue moved -2% while net margin moved -2% 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-2%

Margin effect-2%

DalalBaazaar Score

48/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Revenue has contracted at 0.6% a year
✗ Profit has declined at 1.3% a year
✗ Profit fell 41.6% in the latest year

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

40/ 100

Weak

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

Valuation

88/ 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

11.7x

3Y Median

15.0x

40 monthly readings · mean 17.5x · range 9.2x–34.1x

Sector Median

28.7x

median of 4 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 22% below its 3y median of 15.0x. 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 59% below the peer median of 28.7x.

vs. its own history

Cheap

15.0x median over 40 months · -22%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

28.7x median of 4 peers · -59%

vs. generic bands

Cheap

Below 15x

EV/EBITDA

6.4x

PEG

—

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well4

Debt is being paid down
Total debt is down 28% over 3 years.
Cash flow has turned positive
Free cash flow moved from negative to positive over 3 years.
Very low debt
Debt/Equity of 0.26x leaves the balance sheet with plenty of headroom.
Consistently profitable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years.

🔴 What Needs Attention0

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

Red Flags

No automated checks triggered

None of the automated financial checks below were triggered on the years of data available. That is not the same as a clean bill of health — see what could not be checked.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Deleveraging frees up earnings
Debt is down 28% over 3 years. Every rupee of interest not paid drops to the bottom line, so profit can grow even if revenue does not.
Priced below its own history
The stock trades 22% 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 59% 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 ₹15 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?

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 5%✓ 7.0%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✗ 2.4x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
3Interest cover stays above 3x✓ 3.0x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.
4Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹15 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
5ROCE stays above 8%✓ 9.0%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

7 / 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

6 good · 3 neutral · 2 weak

Market Cap

₹49 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

11.7x

Cheap

Cheap against the generic band

P/B Ratio

0.53x

Reasonable

Reasonable against the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹11.62

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

4.9%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

9.0%

Moderate

Moderate return on the capital in the business

Debt/Equity

0.26x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

39.0%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

-41.6%

Falling

Profits are shrinking

Dividend Yield

1.47%

Modest

Small cash return — most of the return has to come from the price

Free Cash Flow

₹15 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

Operating Margin

6.4%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

2.8%

Weak

Very little revenue reaches the bottom line

Current Ratio

1.48

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

-0.06

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

20%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

140.8 / 138.5

Bullish alignment (short > long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

10.9

Oversold zone

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹147 Cr	₹115 Cr	₹127 Cr	₹144 Cr	-0.6%
EBITDA	₹10 Cr	₹7 Cr	₹8 Cr	₹10 Cr	-1.4%
EBITDA Margin	7.1%	6.0%	6.4%	7.0%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹5 Cr	₹2 Cr	₹3 Cr	₹5 Cr	-1.3%
EPS	₹13.04	₹5.6	₹9.6	₹12.53	-1.3%
ROE	5.7%	2.4%	3.9%	4.9%	—
ROCE	9.9%	6.1%	7.3%	9.0%	—
Total Debt	₹33 Cr	₹20 Cr	₹20 Cr	₹24 Cr	-10.6%
Free Cash Flow	-₹11 Cr	₹16 Cr	-₹5 Cr	₹15 Cr	—

🟡 Revenue has been broadly flat over 3 years (-0.6% a year).

🟡 EBITDA has been broadly flat over 3 years (-1.4% a year).

🟡 EBITDA Margin has held roughly flat at 7.0% over 3 years.

🟡 PAT (Net Profit) has been broadly flat over 3 years (-1.3% a year).

🟡 EPS has been broadly flat over 3 years (-1.3% a year).

🟡 ROE has held roughly flat at 4.9% over 3 years.

🟡 ROCE has held roughly flat at 9.0% over 3 years.

🟢 Total Debt has shrunk at 10.6% a year over 3 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has turned positive, from -₹11 Cr to ₹15 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹153 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹61 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹9 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹15 Cr

Capex

-₹0 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

7.7%

Insider Holding

78.1%

Corporate Actions

Dividend Rate

₹2

Ex-Dividend Date

16 Sept 2026

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
TATA STEEL LIMITED	19.8x	10.8%
JSW STEEL LIMITED	12.0x	24.7%
ULTRATECH CEMENT LIMITED	37.6x	11.1%
ASIAN PAINTS LIMITED	46.9x	22.3%

Recent News

2 positive2 mixed2 general

Paradeep Phosphates (NSEI:PARADEEP) Stock Forecast & Analyst Predictions

Simply Wall Street, 09 OctAnalyst view

🟡Mixed / dependsBroker commentary — an opinion about the price rather than new information about the business.

Phosphate Company shareholders approve ₹2 dividend at 77th AGM

scanx.trade, 23 SeptCapital return

🟢Potentially positiveCash or shares returned to holders. A buyback is only good value if the shares were cheap when bought.

Paradeep Phosphates Share Price Target 2026: Bull Case Rs 180, Be

Univest, 02 JulAnalyst view

🟡Mixed / dependsBroker commentary — an opinion about the price rather than new information about the business.

A Massive 12 Months Ahead

First Phosphate, 12 Aug

PHOS Stock Price and Chart — CSE:PHOS

TradingView, 10 Apr

Emerging Growth Research Releases Flash Report on First Phosphate; Reiterates Buy Rating and C$4.94 Price Target Following Recent Share Price Weakness | FRSPF - First Phosphate Corp. | News

OTC Markets, 21 JulAnalyst view

🟢Potentially positiveAn analyst opinion changing, which moves the price without changing the business.

Watch Items

Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.
RSI is in oversold territory — could mean either a bargain or a stock still falling for good reason. Check the 'why' before assuming reversal.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongFinancial Health · Valuation

MiddlingRisk

WeakBusiness Quality · Growth · Profitability

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.

1 of 5 tripwires tripped — Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x · see Key things to watch ↑