Popular Vehicles and Services Limited

Consumer Cyclical — Auto & Truck Dealerships · NSE

₹99.45+₹2.67 (+2.76%)

DalalBaazaar Score

37 / 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, though profits are falling even as sales grow. Debt 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 Popular Vehicles and Services Limited — what it does, how it earns, and who it competes with, before any of the numbers below.

What does this company do?

Popular Vehicles and Services Limited engages in the automotive dealership business in India. The company operates through four segments: Passenger Cars (excluding luxury vehicles), Luxury Vehicles, Commercial Vehicles, and Others.

IndustryAuto & Truck Dealerships

SectorConsumer Cyclical

Employees6,603

Annual revenue₹6,142 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹6,142 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹-0 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹3 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 6,603 employees supports ₹93.0 lakh of revenue a year, the signature of a people-led business.

Revenue / employee₹93.0 lakh

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 6.4% 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 +32% while net margin moved -115% 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+32%

Margin effect-115%

DalalBaazaar Score

37/ 100

Weak

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Return on equity is negative
✗ ROE has fallen by 20.7 points over the period

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

36/ 100

Weak

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

Valuation

44/ 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

10.2x

PEG

—

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well0

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

🔴 What Needs Attention3

Margins are compressing
EBITDA margin has slipped from 5.0% to 3.3% over 3 years.
Return on equity is falling
ROE has dropped from 18.7% to -2.0% — each rupee of shareholder capital earns less than it did.
Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from 18.2% to 6.4% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.

Red Flags

5 items require attention · 3 high · 2 watch

🔴High leverageFinancial
Debt/Equity of 2.24x — earnings must service borrowings before shareholders see anything.
🔴Thin interest coverageFinancial
Operating profit covers interest only 0.9x — little room if earnings dip.
🔴The company is lossmakingFinancial
Net profit of -₹12 Cr in the latest reported year.
🟡Debt is increasingFinancial
Total debt is up 50% over 3 years.
🟡Free cash flow is negativeFinancial
Free cash flow was -₹2 Cr in the latest year.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

No clear supporting case emerges from the available numbers.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

Margins are being competed away
EBITDA margin has fallen from 5.0% to 3.3%. 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 7.0x EBITDA. At that level a downturn in earnings turns a manageable balance sheet into a refinancing problem, and lenders get paid before shareholders.
Returns on shareholder capital are falling
ROE has dropped from 18.7% to -2.0%. 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.
Several serious flags at once
3 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 1%✓ 3.3%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x✗ 7.0x
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✗ -₹2 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Interest cover stays above 3x✗ 0.9x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.
5Revenue growth stays above 7% a year✓ 9.6% CAGR
Latest reported year was 44.1%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.

Investment Checklist

4 / 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

2 good · 2 neutral · 7 weak

Market Cap

₹708 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

1.13x

Reasonable

Reasonable against the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹-0.34

Loss-making

Negative earnings per share — the business is losing money

ROE

-2.0%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

6.4%

Weak

Low return on total capital employed

Debt/Equity

2.24x

High

High leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

44.1%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

-19.2%

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

-₹2 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

Operating Margin

1.0%

Weak

Thin margins leave little room for error

Net Margin

-0.0%

Weak

Very little revenue reaches the bottom line

Current Ratio

1.04

Adequate

Adequate, but no real cushion

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.92

Market-like

Moves roughly in line with the market

52W Range Position

23%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

95.8 / 102.6

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

49.8

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹4,670 Cr	₹5,372 Cr	₹5,327 Cr	₹6,142 Cr	+9.6%
EBITDA	₹233 Cr	₹274 Cr	₹164 Cr	₹200 Cr	-4.9%
EBITDA Margin	5.0%	5.1%	3.1%	3.3%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹64 Cr	₹76 Cr	-₹10 Cr	-₹12 Cr	—
EPS	₹9	₹12.05	₹-1.47	₹-1.75	—
ROE	18.7%	11.6%	-1.6%	-2.0%	—
ROCE	18.2%	16.8%	6.0%	6.4%	—
Total Debt	₹938 Cr	₹925 Cr	₹922 Cr	₹1,406 Cr	+14.4%
Free Cash Flow	₹52 Cr	-₹1 Cr	₹97 Cr	-₹2 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 9.6% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA has shrunk at 4.9% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA Margin has fallen from 5.0% to 3.3% over 3 years (-1.7 pts).

🔴 PAT (Net Profit) has turned negative, from ₹64 Cr to -₹12 Cr.

🔴 EPS has turned negative, from ₹9 to ₹-1.75.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 18.7% to -2.0% over 3 years (-20.7 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 18.2% to 6.4% over 3 years (-11.9 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 14.4% a year over 3 years.

🔴 Free Cash Flow has turned negative, from ₹52 Cr to -₹2 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹2,383 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹1,755 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹66 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹100 Cr

Capex

-₹102 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

9.8%

Insider Holding

74.5%

Corporate Actions

Ex-Dividend Date

17 Sept 2024

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

5 mixed1 general

Business Standard, 20 AprResults

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

Univest, 24 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.

scanx.trade, 15 OctResults

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

CNBC TV18, 03 Jan

Univest, 29 JunAnalyst view

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

scanx.trade, 15 OctAnalyst view

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

Watch Items

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

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongGrowth

MiddlingValuation

WeakBusiness Quality · Financial Health · 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. 3 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 ↑