The Ruby Mills Limited

Consumer Cyclical — Textile Manufacturing · NSE

₹508.00−₹9.70 (−1.87%)

DalalBaazaar Score

52 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

High

Driven by negative free cash flow, 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. Cash generation is currently the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:49 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

The Ruby Mills Limited engages in the manufacture of textile products in India. The company operates in two segments, Textiles, and Real Estate and Related.

IndustryTextile Manufacturing

SectorConsumer Cyclical

Employees244

Annual revenue₹292 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹292 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹15 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹29 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 244 employees supports ₹1.20 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹1.20 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 6.1% 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?

Growth has come mainly from selling more, rather than from keeping more of each sale. Over 3 years revenue moved +29% while net margin moved -4% 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+29%

Margin effect-4%

DalalBaazaar Score

52/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

• P/E of 39.3x already prices in growth
✗ P/E is 101% above its own historical median of 19.5x — expensive by its own standards

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

55/ 100

Average

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

Valuation

42/ 100

Expensive

What you are being asked to pay, ignoring how good the business is.

A reasonable business at a reasonable price — neither the quality nor the valuation stands out in either direction.

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

39.3x

3Y Median

19.5x

40 monthly readings · mean 21.0x · range 13.6x–39.6x

Sector Median

69.2x

median of 4 sector peers

⚠️Current valuation is approximately 101% above its 3y median of 19.5x. Paying more than usual needs a reason — faster growth, a better balance sheet, or a re-rating you believe in.

🟢Against its sector it trades 43% below the peer median of 69.2x.

vs. its own history

Expensive

19.5x median over 40 months · +101%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

69.2x median of 4 peers · -43%

vs. generic bands

Expensive

Above 35x

EV/EBITDA

24.2x

PEG

5.36

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well2

Margins are improving
EBITDA margin is up from 24.1% to 29.2% over 3 years.
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

5 items require attention · 1 high · 4 watch

🔴Debt has risen sharplyFinancial
Total debt is up 56% over 3 years, from ₹241 Cr to ₹376 Cr.
🟡Interest coverage is deterioratingFinancial
Cover has fallen from 14.4x to 4.6x.
🟡Free cash flow is negativeFinancial
Free cash flow was -₹49 Cr in the latest year.
🟡Receivables growing faster than salesFinancial
Receivables up 78% against revenue up 29% — sales are being booked faster than they are collected.
🟡Inventory building faster than salesFinancial
Inventory up 68% against revenue up 29% — stock may not be moving.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Margin expansion has further to run
EBITDA margin has risen from 24.1% to 29.2%. If that holds, profit compounds faster than sales and today's multiple looks cheaper in hindsight than it does now.
Cheaper than its peers
It trades 43% below the sector median. Either the market sees a problem the numbers do not show, or the discount closes.
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?

The debt load needs earnings to hold up
Debt is 4.4x 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 78% against revenue up 29%. If customers keep taking longer to pay, reported profit will not turn into cash — and write-offs follow if some never do.
The price already assumes success
The stock trades 101% above its own median multiple. At this level the business has to deliver just to stand still, and a stumble is repriced twice — lower earnings on a lower multiple.
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 27%✓ 29.2%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x✗ 4.4x
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✗ -₹49 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Revenue growth stays above 7% a year✓ 9.0% CAGR
Latest reported year was 31.5%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
5ROCE stays above 8%✗ 6.1%
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

3 good · 4 neutral · 4 weak

Market Cap

₹1,699 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

39.3x

Fair

Fairly valued against the generic band

P/B Ratio

2.52x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹12.92

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

6.5%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

6.1%

Weak

Low return on total capital employed

Debt/Equity

0.56x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

31.5%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

-3.0%

Falling

Profits are shrinking

Dividend Yield

0.49%

Modest

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

Free Cash Flow

-₹49 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

Operating Margin

13.8%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

11.4%

Good

Strong bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

2.10

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

-0.01

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

82%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

495.0 / 441.5

Bullish alignment (short > long)

Price vs SMA 200

Above

Long-term uptrend

RSI (14)

56.3

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹226 Cr	₹197 Cr	₹208 Cr	₹292 Cr	+9.0%
EBITDA	₹54 Cr	₹67 Cr	₹60 Cr	₹85 Cr	+16.2%
EBITDA Margin	24.1%	33.9%	28.8%	29.2%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹35 Cr	₹45 Cr	₹42 Cr	₹44 Cr	+7.3%
EPS	₹10.53	₹13.32	₹12.65	₹13.03	+7.4%
ROE	6.3%	7.4%	6.6%	6.5%	—
ROCE	6.0%	7.5%	6.0%	6.1%	—
Total Debt	₹241 Cr	₹213 Cr	₹328 Cr	₹376 Cr	+16.0%
Free Cash Flow	₹118 Cr	₹23 Cr	-₹57 Cr	-₹49 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 9.0% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 16.2% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from 24.1% to 29.2% over 3 years (+5.1 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 7.3% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EPS has grown at 7.4% a year over 3 years.

🟡 ROE has held roughly flat at 6.5% over 3 years.

🟡 ROCE has held roughly flat at 6.1% over 3 years.

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 16.0% a year over 3 years.

🔴 Free Cash Flow has turned negative, from ₹118 Cr to -₹49 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹1,216 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹542 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹9 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹63 Cr

Capex

-₹112 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

81.4%

Corporate Actions

Dividend Rate

₹2.5

Ex-Dividend Date

17 Sept 2026

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

1 positive5 general

Ruby Mills vs Nifty 50: 1Y Return +120.27% vs -9.64%

Univest, 14 Oct

The Ruby Mills Limited (RUBYMILLS.NS) Rises 3.81% to ₹510.6, Testing the Upper End of Its Range - Volume Nodes

https://www.siam.in/, 28 Sept

Ruby Mills Ltd is Rated Sell

MarketsMojo, 12 Oct

Ruby Mills FY26 profit rises, revenue jumps 46.2%

scanx.trade, 23 MayResults

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

The Ruby Mills Ltd. (RUBYMILLS) 52 Week High Streak: Second Straight Session Near Peak

Univest, 07 Oct

The Ruby Mills Limited (NSE: RUBYMILLS) Gains 13.23% as Stock Movement Draws Market Attention

Kalkine India, 07 Sept

Watch Items

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

DalalBaazaar Thesis

MiddlingBusiness Quality · Financial Health · Growth · Profitability · Risk

WeakValuation

Points for each in the Score ↑

Unremarkable in both directions

A reasonable business at a reasonable price. Nothing here is alarming and nothing is compelling, which usually means the decision rests on things this data cannot see — the industry's direction, management's intent, and what else is available to you. 1 high-severity red flag sits above this conclusion and should be read first.

3 of 5 tripwires tripped — Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x; Free cash flow remains positive; ROCE stays above 8% · see Key things to watch ↑