Photoquip India Limited

Consumer Cyclical — Leisure · BSE

₹10.93+₹0.50 (+4.79%)

DalalBaazaar Score

38 / 100

🔴 Weak

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

Very High

Driven by high debt relative to equity, negative free cash flow, the company is currently loss-making.

In simple words: The company is currently losing money, but sales are shrinking. Debt is the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:45 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Photoquip India Limited trades in digital studio flashlights and photographic accessories in India. It provides digital lights for cinematography, videography, and photography as well as its accessories.

IndustryLeisure

SectorConsumer Cyclical

Employees14

Annual revenue₹14 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹14 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹-6 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹6 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 14 employees supports ₹1.03 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹1.03 Cr

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are MARUTI SUZUKI INDIA LTD., TITAN COMPANY LIMITED, TRENT LTD, AVENUE SUPERMARTS 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 -1.0% 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 ROE25.9%

What has been driving growth?

Profit has moved mainly because margins changed, not because the business sold much more. Over 3 years revenue moved +25% while net margin moved -84% 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+25%

Margin effect-84%

DalalBaazaar Score

38/ 100

Weak

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Return on equity is negative
✓ ROE has improved by 43.1 points over the period

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

36/ 100

Weak

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

Valuation

36/ 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

No P/E — the company is lossmaking

EV/EBITDA

24.9x

PEG

—

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well3

Margins are improving
EBITDA margin is up from -12.0% to 5.5% over 3 years.
Return on equity is rising
ROE has improved from -54.8% to -11.7%.
Return on capital is rising
ROCE has improved from -17.5% to -1.0%.

🔴 What Needs Attention0

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

Red Flags

8 items require attention · 4 high · 4 watch

🔴High leverageFinancial
Debt/Equity of 1.89x — earnings must service borrowings before shareholders see anything.
🔴Thin interest coverageFinancial
Operating profit covers interest only -0.2x — little room if earnings dip.
🔴The company is lossmakingFinancial
Net profit of -₹1 Cr in the latest reported year.
🔴Receivables growing faster than salesFinancial
Receivables up 1068% against revenue up 25% — sales are being booked faster than they are collected.
🟡Debt is increasingFinancial
Total debt is up 28% over 3 years.
🟡Interest coverage is deterioratingFinancial
Cover has fallen from 1.6x to -0.2x.
🟡Free cash flow is negativeFinancial
Free cash flow was -₹4 Cr in the latest year.
🟡Shareholders have been dilutedOwnership
Shares outstanding are up 25% over 3 years — each existing share owns a smaller slice of the company.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Margin expansion has further to run
EBITDA margin has risen from -12.0% to 5.5%. 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?

The debt load needs earnings to hold up
Debt is 17.0x EBITDA. At that level a downturn in earnings turns a manageable balance sheet into a refinancing problem, and lenders get paid before shareholders.
Sales are being booked faster than collected
Receivables are up 1068% against revenue up 25%. If customers keep taking longer to pay, reported profit will not turn into cash — and write-offs follow if some never do.
Growth barely outpaces inflation
Revenue compounding at 7.6% 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.
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.

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

1EBITDA margin holds above 4%✓ 5.5%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x✗ 17.0x
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✗ -₹4 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Interest cover stays above 3x✗ -0.2x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.
5Revenue growth stays above 6% a year✓ 7.6% CAGR
Latest reported year was -25.7%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.

Investment Checklist

3 / 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

1 good · 2 neutral · 8 weak

Market Cap

₹7 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

0.91x

Reasonable

Reasonable against the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹-2.71

Loss-making

Negative earnings per share — the business is losing money

ROE

-11.7%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

-1.0%

Weak

Low return on total capital employed

Debt/Equity

1.89x

High

High leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

-25.7%

Shrinking

Sales are contracting

Profit Growth (YoY)

-347.1%

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 burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

Operating Margin

-25.3%

Weak

Thin margins leave little room for error

Net Margin

-12.4%

Weak

Very little revenue reaches the bottom line

Current Ratio

1.58

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

-0.47

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

12%

Near low

Near its 52-week low

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

11.6 / 12.7

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

44.3

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹12 Cr	₹16 Cr	₹17 Cr	₹14 Cr	+7.6%
EBITDA	-₹1 Cr	-₹0 Cr	₹2 Cr	₹1 Cr	—
EBITDA Margin	-12.0%	-1.3%	12.4%	5.5%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	-₹4 Cr	-₹2 Cr	₹0 Cr	-₹1 Cr	—
EPS	₹-8.55	₹-4.17	₹0.57	₹-1.4	—
ROE	-54.8%	-29.0%	4.2%	-11.7%	—
ROCE	-17.5%	-6.0%	10.2%	-1.0%	—
Total Debt	₹11 Cr	₹9 Cr	₹9 Cr	₹14 Cr	+8.6%
Free Cash Flow	₹1 Cr	-₹0 Cr	₹0 Cr	-₹4 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 7.6% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has turned positive, from -₹1 Cr to ₹1 Cr.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from -12.0% to 5.5% over 3 years (+17.5 pts).

🟢 ROE has risen from -54.8% to -11.7% over 3 years (+43.1 pts).

🟢 ROCE has risen from -17.5% to -1.0% over 3 years (+16.5 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 8.6% a year over 3 years.

🔴 Free Cash Flow has turned negative, from ₹1 Cr to -₹4 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹23 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹15 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹0 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

-₹4 Cr

Capex

-₹0 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

65.6%

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
MARUTI SUZUKI INDIA LTD.	25.2x	13.4%
TITAN COMPANY LIMITED	68.5x	36.7%
TRENT LTD	87.2x	25.9%
AVENUE SUPERMARTS LIMITED	69.9x	12.7%

Recent News

6 general

Photoquip (India) Ltd. Peer Comparison – Compare with Others

Value Research, 15 Sept

Compare PHOTOQUIP(I) with

Equitymaster, 10 Oct

Photoquip India approves all resolutions at 34th AGM

scanx.trade, 22 Jun

Compare PHOTOQUIP(I) with

Equitymaster, 30 Sept

SINGERIND Stock Price and Chart — NSE:SINGERIND

TradingView, 19 Mar

Photoquip promoter Vimal Soni stake rises to 21.15% via transmission

scanx.trade, 20 Sept

Watch Items

Revenue growth is negative (-25.7%) on the latest reported period — check if this is one-off or a trend.
Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

MiddlingValuation

WeakBusiness Quality · Financial Health · Growth · Profitability · Risk

Points for each in the Score ↑

Weak on the fundamentals

Poor scores on business quality without a price low enough to compensate. There is no obvious argument for owning this over a stronger company at a similar valuation. 4 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 ↑