Spencer's Retail Limited

Consumer Cyclical — Department Stores · NSE

₹22.95+₹1.19 (+5.47%)

DalalBaazaar Score

16 / 100

🔴 Poor

Verdict

HIGH RISK

Risk

Very High

Driven by negative shareholders' equity — the company owes more than it owns, short-term liabilities exceed short-term assets, negative free cash flow.

In simple words: The company owes more than it owns — years of losses have wiped out its net worth, though profits are falling even as sales grow. Solvency — whether it can keep funding itself at all — is the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:03 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Spencer's Retail Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in developing, conducting, and promoting organised retail and operates departmental and neighbourhood stores under various formats across the country in India.

IndustryDepartment Stores

SectorConsumer Cyclical

Employees2,648

Annual revenue₹1,726 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹1,726 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹-14 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹-1 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 2,648 employees supports ₹65.2 lakh of revenue a year, the signature of a people-led business.

Revenue / employee₹65.2 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 -50.1% 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?

Profit has moved mainly because margins changed, not because the business sold much more. Over 3 years revenue moved -27% while net margin moved +63% 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-27%

Margin effect+63%

DalalBaazaar Score

16/ 100

Poor

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Shareholders' equity is negative — accumulated losses exceed the capital in the business

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

15/ 100

Weak

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

Valuation

30/ 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

Multiples unreliable — equity base is negative

EV/EBITDA

—

PEG

—

Red Flags

9 items require attention · 4 high · 5 watch

🔴Negative shareholders' equityFinancial
Liabilities exceed assets — accumulated losses have wiped out the company's net worth.
🔴Thin interest coverageFinancial
Operating profit covers interest only -0.6x — little room if earnings dip.
🔴The company is lossmakingFinancial
Net profit of -₹249 Cr in the latest reported year.
🔴Receivables growing faster than salesFinancial
Receivables up 26% against revenue up -27% — sales are being booked faster than they are collected.
🟡Debt is increasingFinancial
Total debt is up 43% over 3 years.
🟡Interest coverage is deterioratingFinancial
Cover has fallen from -0.6x to -0.6x.
🟡Free cash flow is negativeFinancial
Free cash flow was -₹69 Cr in the latest year.
🟡Margins are compressingFinancial
EBITDA margin is down 2.2 points over 3 years.
🟡Short-term liquidity is tightFinancial
Current ratio of 0.26 — near-term obligations exceed near-term assets.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

No clear supporting case emerges from the available numbers.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

Solvency comes before everything else
Liabilities exceed assets. Until net worth is rebuilt, the equity is a claim on a business that owes more than it owns, and further losses or a funding squeeze can leave shareholders with nothing.
Margins are being competed away
EBITDA margin has fallen from 1.5% to -0.7%. If the trend continues, profit falls even on flat sales — and margin decline rarely reverses quickly.
Sales are being booked faster than collected
Receivables are up 26% against revenue up -27%. If customers keep taking longer to pay, reported profit will not turn into cash — and write-offs follow if some never do.
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
4 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 -3%✓ -0.7%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹69 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
3Interest cover stays above 3x✗ -0.6x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.

Investment Checklist

3 / 10 checks passed

✗ Shareholders' equity is positive (assets exceed liabilities)
✗ Strong return on capital employed (ROCE ≥ 15%)
✗ Healthy net margin (≥ 10%)
✗ Generates positive free cash flow
✗ 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 · 4 neutral · 6 weak

Market Cap

₹207 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

Not available

No data

Source didn't return this field

EPS (TTM)

₹-27.58

Loss-making

Negative earnings per share — the business is losing money

ROE

Not meaningful

Negative equity

Return on equity can't be read when equity itself is negative

ROCE

-50.1%

Distorted

Distorted by the negative net worth — read this alongside the solvency flag, not on its own

Debt/Equity

Not meaningful

Negative equity

Shareholders' equity is negative, so this ratio can't be read

Revenue Growth (YoY)

12.9%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

-1.2%

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

-₹69 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

Operating Margin

-3.4%

Weak

Thin margins leave little room for error

Net Margin

-13.4%

Weak

Very little revenue reaches the bottom line

Current Ratio

0.26

Tight

Tight short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.78

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

Near low

Near its 52-week low

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

27.1 / 28.9

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

30.7

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹2,368 Cr	₹2,261 Cr	₹1,932 Cr	₹1,726 Cr	-10.0%
EBITDA	₹36 Cr	-₹9 Cr	-₹19 Cr	-₹12 Cr	—
EBITDA Margin	1.5%	-0.4%	-1.0%	-0.7%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	-₹210 Cr	-₹266 Cr	-₹246 Cr	-₹249 Cr	—
EPS	₹-23.37	₹-29.57	₹-27.37	₹-27.7	—
ROCE	-13.4%	-17.7%	-27.4%	-50.1%	—
Total Debt	₹1,341 Cr	₹1,622 Cr	₹1,571 Cr	₹1,919 Cr	+12.7%
Free Cash Flow	₹1 Cr	-₹1 Cr	₹15 Cr	-₹69 Cr	—

🔴 Revenue has shrunk at 10.0% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA has turned negative, from ₹36 Cr to -₹12 Cr.

🔴 EBITDA Margin has fallen from 1.5% to -0.7% over 3 years (-2.2 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from -13.4% to -50.1% over 3 years (-36.7 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 12.7% a year over 3 years.

🔴 Free Cash Flow has turned negative, from ₹1 Cr to -₹69 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹1,396 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹2,309 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹46 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

-₹60 Cr

Capex

-₹9 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

7.6%

Insider Holding

61.2%

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

2 mixed4 general

Spencer's Retail Share Price

Upstox, 16 Oct

Spencer's Retail Share Price Update: Retail Sector View

Univest, 15 Oct

Spencer’s Retail Q1 Loss Narrows to ₹60.4 Cr

HDFC Sky, 14 AugResults

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

Spencer Retail Consolidated March 2026 Net Sales at Rs 436.15 crore, up 5.89% Y-o-Y

Moneycontrol.com, 22 May

Spencer's Retail (NSE: SPENCERS): Q1 Growth, Continuing Losses

Kalkine India, 06 OctResults

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

Spencer's Retail vs Nifty 50: 1Y Return -50.86% vs -10.93%

Univest, 12 Oct

Watch Items

Trading very close to its 52-week low — worth checking whether this reflects a temporary setback or a structural problem.
Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.
1 metric couldn't be retrieved for this stock — this is more common for smaller or thinly-covered listings.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

WeakBusiness Quality · Financial Health · Growth · Profitability · Valuation · Risk

Points for each in the Score ↑

Avoid until solvency is resolved

Spencer's Retail Limited owes more than it owns. Whatever the operating numbers show, the equity is a residual claim on a business with negative net worth, and that question has to be settled before any of the rest is worth weighing. 4 high-severity red flags sit above this conclusion and should be read first.

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