Quest Flow Controls Limited

Industrials — Specialty Industrial Machinery · BSE

₹205.00+₹8.20 (+4.17%)

DalalBaazaar Score

39 / 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, 6:58 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Quest Flow Controls Limited assembles, buys, sells, distributes, imports, exports, or deals in valves, actuators, strainers, and remote-control valves systems to various industries in India and internationally.

IndustrySpecialty Industrial Machinery

SectorIndustrials

Employees90

Annual revenue₹62 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹62 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹-7 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹13 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 90 employees supports ₹69.3 lakh of revenue a year, the signature of a people-led business.

Revenue / employee₹69.3 lakh

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are SIEMENS LTD, ABB INDIA LIMITED, LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD., HAVELLS INDIA 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 0.4% 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 ROE17.1%

What has been driving growth?

Profit has moved mainly because margins changed, not because the business sold much more. Over 3 years revenue moved +70% while net margin moved -156% 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+70%

Margin effect-156%

DalalBaazaar Score

39/ 100

Weak

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Return on equity is negative
✗ ROE has fallen by 27.5 points over the period

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

41/ 100

Weak

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

Valuation

25/ 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

26.3x

PEG

—

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well1

Debt is being paid down
Total debt is down 51% over 3 years.

🔴 What Needs Attention2

Return on equity is falling
ROE has dropped from 22.3% to -5.2% — each rupee of shareholder capital earns less than it did.
Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from 34.8% to 0.4% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.

Red Flags

7 items require attention · 6 high · 1 watch

🔴High leverageFinancial
Debt/Equity of 6.69x — earnings must service borrowings before shareholders see anything.
🔴Thin interest coverageFinancial
Operating profit covers interest only 0.5x — little room if earnings dip.
🔴Free cash flow negative for 4 yearsFinancial
The business has not covered its capital spending from operations for several years running, which has to be funded externally.
🔴The company is lossmakingFinancial
Net profit of -₹4 Cr in the latest reported year.
🔴Significant margin compressionFinancial
EBITDA margin has fallen 7.6 points, from 20.3% to 12.7%.
🔴Receivables growing faster than salesFinancial
Receivables up 224% against revenue up 70% — sales are being booked faster than they are collected.
🟡Interest coverage is deterioratingFinancial
Cover has fallen from 12.0x to 0.5x.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Deleveraging frees up earnings
Debt is down 51% over 3 years. Every rupee of interest not paid drops to the bottom line, so profit can grow even if revenue does not.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

Margins are being competed away
EBITDA margin has fallen from 20.3% to 12.7%. If the trend continues, profit falls even on flat sales — and margin decline rarely reverses quickly.
Leverage amplifies any setback
Debt/Equity of 6.69x. Interest is payable whether or not the business has a good year.
Sales are being booked faster than collected
Receivables are up 224% against revenue up 70%. If customers keep taking longer to pay, reported profit will not turn into cash — and write-offs follow if some never do.
Returns on shareholder capital are falling
ROE has dropped from 22.3% to -5.2%. 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.
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.

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

1Revenue growth stays above 15% a year✓ 19.4% CAGR
Latest reported year was -3.9%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above 11%✓ 12.7%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹16 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Interest cover stays above 3x✗ 0.5x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.
5Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 0.7x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.

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

0 good · 3 neutral · 8 weak

Market Cap

₹210 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

2.57x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹-4.21

Loss-making

Negative earnings per share — the business is losing money

ROE

-5.8%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

0.4%

Weak

Low return on total capital employed

Debt/Equity

6.69x

High

High leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

-3.9%

Shrinking

Sales are contracting

Profit Growth (YoY)

-163.0%

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

-₹6 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

ROA

-3.0%

Weak

Assets generate little profit

Operating Margin

-25.8%

Weak

Thin margins leave little room for error

Net Margin

-6.9%

Weak

Very little revenue reaches the bottom line

Current Ratio

2.35

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

2.01

High swing

Swings more than the market in both directions

52W Range Position

51%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

171.2 / 172.2

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Above

Long-term uptrend

RSI (14)

73.7

Overbought zone

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹37 Cr	₹63 Cr	₹67 Cr	₹62 Cr	+19.4%
EBITDA	₹7 Cr	₹15 Cr	₹13 Cr	₹8 Cr	+2.2%
EBITDA Margin	20.3%	23.7%	19.6%	12.7%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹4 Cr	₹9 Cr	₹7 Cr	-₹4 Cr	—
EPS	₹4.4	₹8.91	₹6.69	—	—
ROE	22.3%	15.0%	10.2%	-5.2%	—
ROCE	34.8%	22.7%	13.7%	0.4%	—
Total Debt	₹11 Cr	₹6 Cr	₹5 Cr	₹5 Cr	-21.3%
Free Cash Flow	-₹9 Cr	-₹30 Cr	-₹1 Cr	-₹16 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 19.4% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 2.2% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA Margin has fallen from 20.3% to 12.7% over 3 years (-7.6 pts).

🔴 PAT (Net Profit) has turned negative, from ₹4 Cr to -₹4 Cr.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 22.3% to -5.2% over 3 years (-27.5 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 34.8% to 0.4% over 3 years (-34.4 pts).

🟢 Total Debt has shrunk at 21.3% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹124 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹42 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹7 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

-₹8 Cr

Capex

-₹8 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

39.5%

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
SIEMENS LTD	88.8x	10.5%
ABB INDIA LIMITED	92.6x	19.1%
LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD.	30.1x	15.2%
HAVELLS INDIA LIMITED	43.5x	17.1%

Recent News

6 general

Quest Flow wins SIDM award for Indian Navy valve supply

scanx.trade, 13 Oct

Quest Flow Controls Ltd. Peer Comparison – Compare with Others

Value Research, 31 Aug

3,335,792 Equity Shares of Quest Flow Controls Limited are subject to a Lock-Up Agreement Ending on 29-SEP-2026.

marketscreener.com, 28 Sept

QUEST Flow Controls Limited Presents Business Updates and Achievements in April 2026 Investor Presentation

scanx.trade, 01 Apr

Quest Flow Controls Ltd. Shareholding Pattern – Promoters, FIIs & DIIs

Value Research, 30 Aug

Quest Flow Controls Ltd Enters North American Market with Strategic Investment in QUEST Flow Controls, LLC

Business Standard, 11 Nov

Watch Items

Revenue growth is negative (-3.9%) 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.
RSI is in overbought territory — momentum entries here carry more short-term pullback risk.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongGrowth

MiddlingFinancial Health

WeakBusiness Quality · Profitability · Valuation · 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. 6 high-severity red flags sit above this conclusion and should be read first.

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