Zeal Aqua Limited

Consumer Defensive — Farm Products · BSE

₹10.48+₹0.31 (+3.05%)

DalalBaazaar Score

66 / 100

🟢 Good

Verdict

REASONABLE

Risk

High

Driven by high debt relative to equity, micro-cap size, which brings thin liquidity.

In simple words: Strong business and financial position, with both sales and profits growing well. 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 Zeal Aqua Limited — what it does, how it earns, and who it competes with, before any of the numbers below.

What does this company do?

Zeal Aqua Limited, an aquaculture company, engages in the farming, producing, and harvesting of prawns in India and internationally. The company trades in shrimp medicines, seeds, and feeds. It also offers fish and shrimps, as well as shrimp processing units.

IndustryFarm Products

SectorConsumer Defensive

Employees230

Annual revenue₹668 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹668 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹2 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹7 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 230 employees supports ₹2.90 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹2.90 Cr

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LTD., ITC LTD, NESTLE INDIA LIMITED, BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES LTD. 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?The numbers suggest a real one

ROCE has stayed above 15% in every year available and stands at 33.8%. Returns that high normally get competed away; when they persist, something is protecting them, and its ROE of 13.7% against a peer median of 51.0% is consistent with that. What that something is — brand, scale, switching costs, regulation — the accounts cannot tell you.

Peer median ROE51.0%

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 +84% while net margin moved +9% 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+84%

Margin effect+9%

DalalBaazaar Score

66/ 100

Good

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✓ Beta of 0.20 — historically steadier than the index
✗ Micro Cap: thinner liquidity and sharper drawdowns are normal
✗ High leverage magnifies any downturn in earnings

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

65/ 100

Good

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

Valuation

88/ 100

Cheap

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

A good business currently available at an undemanding price — the combination this framework is built to look for.

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

9.0x

3Y Median

16.8x

40 monthly readings · mean 16.2x · range 9.3x–27.0x

Sector Median

43.3x

median of 4 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 47% below its 3y median of 16.8x. Cheaper than its own history, which is worth a reason too: the market may be pricing in something the backward-looking numbers do not show.

🟢Against its sector it trades 79% below the peer median of 43.3x.

vs. its own history

Cheap

16.8x median over 40 months · -47%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

43.3x median of 4 peers · -79%

vs. generic bands

Cheap

Below 15x

EV/EBITDA

7.1x

PEG

0.34

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well5

Cash generation is improving
Free cash flow is up 44% over 3 years.
Return on equity is rising
ROE has improved from 10.0% to 13.7%.
Return on capital is rising
ROCE has improved from 20.9% to 33.8%.
High return on capital employed
ROCE of 33.8% is the mark of a business that converts capital into profit efficiently.
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

3 items require attention · 2 high · 1 watch

🔴High leverageFinancial
Debt/Equity of 1.80x — earnings must service borrowings before shareholders see anything.
🔴Thin interest coverageFinancial
Operating profit covers interest only 1.9x — little room if earnings dip.
🟡Debt is increasingFinancial
Total debt is up 42% over 3 years.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Capital compounds at a high rate
ROCE of 33.8% means each rupee reinvested earns well above what capital costs. If the company can keep deploying at this rate, growth creates value rather than just consuming cash.
Priced below its own history
The stock trades 47% below its own median multiple. If the business performs as it has and simply re-rates back to normal, that gap is return on its own.
Cheaper than its peers
It trades 79% 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 4.2x EBITDA. At that level a downturn in earnings turns a manageable balance sheet into a refinancing problem, and lenders get paid before shareholders.
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
2 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

1Revenue growth stays above 17% a year✓ 22.6% CAGR
Latest reported year was 21.8%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above 5%✓ 6.9%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x✗ 4.2x
Already stretched, so this is a reduction target rather than a level to hold. Around 3x is where lenders typically start attaching conditions.
4Interest cover stays above 3x✗ 1.9x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.
5Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹31 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.

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

7 good · 3 neutral · 1 weak

Market Cap

₹132 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

9.0x

Cheap

Cheap against the generic band

P/B Ratio

1.28x

Reasonable

Reasonable against the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹1.17

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

13.7%

Moderate

Moderate capital efficiency

ROCE

33.8%

Strong

Earns comfortably above its likely cost of capital

Debt/Equity

1.80x

High

High leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

21.8%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

41.0%

Healthy

Profits growing at a healthy clip

Dividend Yield

None

No dividend yield reported — usually means no payout, but verify if one was recently initiated

Free Cash Flow

₹31 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

Operating Margin

5.6%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

2.1%

Weak

Very little revenue reaches the bottom line

Current Ratio

1.30

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.20

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

14%

Near low

Near its 52-week low

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

10.4 / 10.8

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

50.9

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹363 Cr	₹398 Cr	₹510 Cr	₹668 Cr	+22.6%
EBITDA	₹27 Cr	₹28 Cr	₹43 Cr	₹46 Cr	+20.2%
EBITDA Margin	7.3%	7.1%	8.4%	6.9%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹7 Cr	₹8 Cr	₹10 Cr	₹14 Cr	+26.0%
EPS	₹0.56	₹0.66	₹0.8	₹1.12	+26.0%
ROE	10.0%	10.5%	11.3%	13.7%	—
ROCE	20.9%	20.4%	32.8%	33.8%	—
Total Debt	₹136 Cr	₹157 Cr	₹182 Cr	₹194 Cr	+12.5%
Free Cash Flow	₹22 Cr	₹14 Cr	₹14 Cr	₹31 Cr	+13.0%

🟢 Revenue has grown at 22.6% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 20.2% a year over 3 years.

🟡 EBITDA Margin has held roughly flat at 6.9% over 3 years.

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 26.0% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EPS has grown at 26.0% a year over 3 years.

🟢 ROE has risen from 10.0% to 13.7% over 3 years (+3.7 pts).

🟢 ROCE has risen from 20.9% to 33.8% over 3 years (+12.9 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 12.5% a year over 3 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has grown at 13.0% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹341 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹237 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹1 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹35 Cr

Capex

-₹3 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

68.4%

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LTD.	42.5x	21.5%
ITC LTD	16.6x	27.4%
NESTLE INDIA LIMITED	59.8x	79.9%
BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES LTD	44.1x	51.0%

Recent News

6 general

Zeal Aqua raises credit facilities to ₹249.96 crore from ₹206 crore

scanx.trade, 18 Oct

Apex Frozen, Waterbase, Zeal Aqua rise up to 8% post Budget presentation

Business Standard, 01 Feb

Zeal Aqua sets Sep 30 for 18th AGM; e-voting starts Sep 27

scanx.trade, 30 Sept

Zeal Aqua passes all 11 resolutions at 18th annual general meeting

scanx.trade, 01 Oct

Seafood Stocks Rally: Apex Frozen Foods, Zeal Aqua, Avanti Feeds, Waterbase & Coastal Corp Surge Up To 20%

Samco, 10 Sept

Zeal Aqua Limited Share Price

Upstox, 19 Jan

Watch Items

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

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongGrowth · Valuation

MiddlingBusiness Quality · Financial Health · Profitability

WeakRisk

Points for each in the Score ↑

Attractive on both counts

A good business currently available at an undemanding price — the combination this framework exists to look for. The work left is qualitative: whether the advantage the numbers imply is one you can identify and expect to last. 2 high-severity red flags sit above this conclusion and should be read first.

2 of 5 tripwires tripped — Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x; Interest cover stays above 3x · see Key things to watch ↑