Balmer Lawrie & Company Ltd

Price story Before the numbers, the tape. A stock price moves through four repeating seasons: a flat base (stage 1), an advance (2), a top (3), a decline (4). Where the price sits in that cycle frames everything below.

Balmer Lawrie & Company Ltd trades at ₹178, in a downtrend and 37 weeks into that stage. That is −3.5% against its own 200-day average. It sits at 28% of a 52-week range of ₹157 to ₹231. On relative strength it is currently behind the NIFTY 500 on a trailing-13-week view (5 weeks and counting).

Today the stock is in a downtrend — week 37 of stage 4, confirmed. At ₹178 it trades −3.5% versus its 200-day average and sits at 28% of its 52-week range (₹157–₹231).

Against the market, two honest reads. Cumulative: over the last 10.3 years the stock moved +98% while the NIFTY 500 moved +274% — behind the index over the full window. Recent form: on a trailing-13-week view the stock is currently behind (5 weeks and counting; last ahead the week of 2026-06-24) — the ribbon below is that same metric, week by week.

What would end the trend, mechanically: two Friday closes in a row below the 200-day line. That is the exit rule — no debates.

→ The trend is one thing; the bill is another. Are you paying up for it? Next: the P/E sits at the 8th percentile of its own range.

Valuation P/E is the price of ₹1 of annual profit: how many rupees the market pays for each rupee the company earns in a year.

Balmer Lawrie & Company Ltd trades at 10.8× P/E, near the bottom of its own range — cheaper only 8% of the time. Its long-run median P/E is 13.5×, measured across 10.4 years of weekly readings. This places the multiple against the stock’s own record, and says nothing about what the business is worth.

Today's P/E of 10.8× is near the bottom of its own range — cheaper only 8% of the time, against a long-run median of 13.5× measured over 10.4 years of weekly readings. This is a comparison against the stock's own history — not a claim about what it is worth.

One caveat before moving on: margins are the best this company has ever printed — cheap against its own history on record margins is not the same thing as cheap. If profitability mean-reverts, today's multiple is higher than it looks.

Why the multiple sits where it does: over the past year annual EPS moved +4.1% against a −18.9% price move — earnings outran the price, pushing the multiple DOWN its own range.

The price move, decomposed: over 5y, of the +5.0%/yr price move, ~+18.1%/yr came from earnings growth and ~−13.1 pp from the multiple (compressing); over 10y, of the +6.0%/yr price move, ~+6.1%/yr came from earnings growth and ~−0.1 pp from the multiple (roughly flat). The split is the honest approximate (price return minus earnings growth); it makes the rally itself visible instead of hiding it behind the percentile.

Put together: the multiple is low against its own past, so the story rests on the earnings line underneath it, not the multiple.

A quarterly PEG curve, which only the second data source carries, is not drawn on this page: its two data sources disagree by up to 28% on reported income across 14 comparable periods. A figure two sources cannot agree on is not drawn — the gap is a decision, not missing data.

→ Cheap or dear rides on the earnings. Are they actually growing? Next: the fundamental stage — where the business sits in its arc, and how growth has compounded.

Stage: Turning around Every business sits somewhere on a fundamental arc, and this page names the spot before anything else. The last twelve quarters of revenue, profit and EPS growth — plus the return the business earns on its capital — are read as curves: Deteriorating (the curves are falling), Turning around (a trough has just formed and the last few quarters lift off it), Improving (the climb off the trough is sustained), Consistent (steadily positive with healthy returns), Topping out (still high but decelerating from the peak). When the curves genuinely disagree the read is Mixed; too little history is No read. CAGR (compound annual growth rate) is the smooth yearly pace that turns the starting value into the latest one — the fairest way to compare growth across different time spans. Read the columns together: if the 1-year number towers over the 10-year, recent growth is running hotter than the long-run trend. A dash means that window is not held, or the base year was a loss (where a growth rate is not meaningful).

Balmer Lawrie & Company Ltd reads as turning around on its fundamental arc. Turning around — profit growth swung from −3.2% at the trough to +12.2% off a 5-quarter-old trough (single-quarter readings), ROCE lifting at 15.0%. The read is built from 10 quarters across 3 curves, on partial evidence.

Why it matters: growth inflections are where re-ratings start — the curves say a turn is forming, so the question becomes whether the next quarters confirm it.

One or more growth curves carry a base-effect spike — a large year-on-year move off a near-zero or loss-making comparable quarter. Those spikes are capped before the classifier reads the trajectory, and shown pinned on the chart, so a single distorted quarter does not drive the stage call.

Return readings here are annual, not quarterly — read as level and direction only; they can confirm the growth curves but never drive the stage on their own.

A partial read: at least one curve is short, or the returns curve is not the computed quarterly series — hold the stage word a little more loosely.

→ The stage names the trajectory. Next: the revenue line that produces it, quarter by quarter.

4-Factor Sector Score

51.9/100 — rank 8 of 20 in Diversified · 79% evidence confidence

Balmer Lawrie & Company Ltd scores 51.9 out of 100 against the 20 companies it is compared with in Diversified, ranking 8. Cheap but unconfirmed: require improving earnings before treating the valuation as an opportunity.

The four contributions add to the total exactly: 15.2 + 15.8 + 14.5 + 6.4 = 51.9. This is the SAME number shown on the sector comparison — it is computed once, for the whole peer set, and read here.

What would change it: The read weakens if profit growth turns negative or margin improvement reverses while sector-relative strength deteriorates.

Revenue Revenue is the top line: everything the company billed its customers in the period.

Balmer Lawrie & Company Ltd reported ₹744 Cr of revenue in the Mar 26 quarter, +22.4% year on year. That is the 2nd straight quarter of year-on-year growth. Over 10 years it has compounded at 5.5% a year. The last full year, FY26, came in at ₹2,717 Cr. The last four reported quarters add to ₹2,717 Cr.

Balmer Lawrie & Company Ltd reported ₹744 Cr of revenue in the Mar 26 quarter, +22.4% year on year. That is the 2nd straight quarter of year-on-year growth. Over 10 years it has compounded at 5.5% a year. The last full year, FY26, came in at ₹2,717 Cr. The last four reported quarters add to ₹2,717 Cr.

FY26 revenue came in at ₹2,717 Cr (+8.5% on the year), capping 10 years at 5.5% compound. The latest quarter (Mar 26) printed ₹744 Cr, +22.4% year on year — the 2nd consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth.

Pace check: the last four quarters averaged +8.2% growth against the decade's 5.5% — the current year is running faster than its own long-run rate.

Acceleration check: trailing-twelve-month revenue grew +8.0% over the last 4 quarters against +7.8%/yr over the last 8 — stabilising; TTM profit +3.8% vs +2.3%/yr — stabilising.

→ Revenue grew — did margins hold as it scaled? Next: 15.0% this quarter (−1.0 pp YoY).

Operating margin Operating margin is what is left of every ₹100 of sales after running the business, before interest and tax. It is the cleanest read on pricing power and cost control.

Balmer Lawrie & Company Ltd's operating margin is 15.0% in the Mar 26 quarter, −1.0 percentage points against the same quarter a year ago. That is the widest this company has ever printed on a full-year basis. Across 13 fiscal years the operating margin has ranged 7.0% to 13.0%.

Balmer Lawrie & Company Ltd's operating margin is 15.0% in the Mar 26 quarter, −1.0 percentage points against the same quarter a year ago. That is the widest this company has ever printed on a full-year basis. Across 13 fiscal years the operating margin has ranged 7.0% to 13.0%.

The latest quarter's operating margin is 15.0%, −1.0 pp against the same quarter a year ago. Across 13 fiscal years the operating margin has ranged 7.0%–13.0%, and FY26's 13.0% is the top of that band — a record year.

🚨 Why the margin moved: operating margin went −0.2 pp year on year while gross margin went −3.4 pp — the loss came mostly from the gross line: input costs and pricing.

Worth repeating from the valuation section: cheap against its own history on record margins is not the same thing as cheap — a record margin flatters every ratio built on top of it.

→ Margins slipped — did that reach the bottom line? Next: profit +12.2% in the latest quarter.

Net profit Net profit is what survives every cost, interest and tax — the number EPS, dividends and book value all grow from.

Balmer Lawrie & Company Ltd earned ₹83.0 Cr of net profit in the Mar 26 quarter, +12.2% year on year. It is the 2nd consecutive quarter of growth. Full-year FY26 profit was ₹270 Cr. The 10-year compound rate is 5.1%. That is 11.2% of the quarter's revenue. The same quarter a year earlier earned ₹74.0 Cr.

Balmer Lawrie & Company Ltd earned ₹83.0 Cr of net profit in the Mar 26 quarter, +12.2% year on year. It is the 2nd consecutive quarter of growth. Full-year FY26 profit was ₹270 Cr. The 10-year compound rate is 5.1%. That is 11.2% of the quarter's revenue. The same quarter a year earlier earned ₹74.0 Cr.

Mar 26 profit was ₹83.0 Cr, +12.2% year on year — the 2nd consecutive quarter of growth. On the full year, FY26 printed ₹270 Cr (+4.2%), and the 10-year compound rate is 5.1%.

Why profit moved: revenue contributed +22.4% and the margin −1.0 pp — the quarter was revenue-led, with the margin roughly flat.

Pace comparison, last four quarters: profit +3.4% vs revenue +8.2%. Profit is growing slower than sales — costs are eating the growth before it reaches the bottom line.

→ Profit rose — but did the cash follow? Next: 94% of the last 3 years' profit arrived as cash.

Cash flow — the router The P&L says what was earned; the cash-flow statement says what actually arrived. Operating cash flow (CFO) against profit is the cleanest lie detector in the accounts.

Over the last 3 fiscal years 94% of Balmer Lawrie & Company Ltd's reported profit arrived as operating cash — the cash follows the profit. In FY26 that was ₹289 Cr of operating cash against ₹270 Cr of profit. After ₹189 Cr of capital spending, ₹100 Cr was left as free cash.

FY26: operating cash of ₹289 Cr against reported profit of ₹270 Cr, leaving free cash of ₹100 Cr after ₹189 Cr of capital spending. Across the last 3 fiscal years the conversion rate is 94% of profit.

Cash-flow readings here are annual — that is the resolution our series carries, so this section moves once a year.

Why conversion sits at 94%: the cash cycle held roughly steady between FY21 and FY26 — so conversion tracks profitability rather than the cycle.

Router verdict: the bigger cash user is investment — capital spending ran 1.7× depreciation over three years, so the next section's job is to check what that build-out is buying.

→ So follow the cash to where it goes. Next: ₹324 Cr of building over 3 years.

Where the cash goes Working capital is the cash tied up between paying suppliers and getting paid: debtor days (customers owe), inventory days (stock waits), and the cash conversion cycle (the whole loop, in days of sales).

Balmer Lawrie & Company Ltd's cash conversion cycle runs 35 days in FY26, up from 28 days in FY21. Capital spending ran ₹324 Cr over the last 3 years. At FY26 sales of ₹2,717 Cr each day of that cycle holds about ₹7.4 Cr, so roughly ₹261 Cr sits inside the business at any moment.

FY26: debtors at 72 days, inventory at 35 days — roughly 1.2 months of stock waiting to sell; that is where the cash sits while it waits — for a full cycle of 35 days, looser than FY21's 28.

The full loop: cash goes out to suppliers and production on day 0; stock waits 35 days to sell; customers pay about 72 days after that; and suppliers themselves are paid at 71 days — netting out to the 35-day cycle.

In money terms: at FY26 sales of ₹2,717 Cr, each day of the cycle holds about ₹7.4 Cr — so the 35-day loop keeps roughly ₹261 Cr sitting inside the business at any moment.

On the investment side: capital spending of ₹324 Cr over the last 3 fiscal years against ₹195 Cr of depreciation — the company is building well ahead of wear-and-tear. Capital work-in-progress stands at ₹34.0 Cr (FY26) — capacity paid for but not yet earning.

The synthesis: the cash is going into capacity, not disappearing into the cycle — the question becomes whether the new capacity earns.

→ Does all this activity actually earn its cost of capital? Next: ROCE is 15%.

Return on capital Return on capital employed (ROCE) is the profit the whole business earns on all the money in it — equity and debt together. It is the single best test of whether growth creates value or just size.

Balmer Lawrie & Company Ltd earns a ROCE of 15% in FY26. That is up from a trough of 8% in FY21. A return-on-invested-capital spread against the cost of capital is not computable from what is held here. The wiring behind it is 9.9% net margin on 0.81× asset turns.

FY26 ROCE is 15%, recovered from a FY21 trough of 8% — the full ladder below shows the fall and the climb, undoctored.

Why the return is what it is — the wiring (FY26): 9.9% net margin × 0.81× asset turns × 1.62× balance-sheet leverage ≈ 13.0% on equity. Margin does its share; leverage is a meaningful part of the equation.

The quarterly return curves and the return-on-invested-capital overlay, which only the second data source carries, are not drawn on this page: its two data sources disagree by up to 28% on reported income across 14 comparable periods. A figure two sources cannot agree on is not drawn — the gap is a decision, not missing data.

→ Returns like these — is the balance sheet borrowing to make them? Next: debt-to-equity is 0.11.

Debt Debt-to-equity says how much of the business is funded by borrowings; interest cover says how many times operating profit pays the interest bill. Low and high, respectively, is the safe corner.

Balmer Lawrie & Company Ltd carries ₹220 Cr of borrowings against ₹2,069 Cr of equity in FY26, a debt-to-equity of 0.11. Operating profit covers the interest bill 11×. Over 5 years borrowings went from ₹125 Cr to ₹220 Cr. Capital spending ran ₹324 Cr across the last 3 of those years.

FY26: borrowings of ₹220 Cr against equity of ₹2,069 Cr — a debt-to-equity of 0.11. Operating profit covers the interest bill 11×. Over 5 years borrowings went from ₹125 Cr to ₹220 Cr while capital spending ran ₹324 Cr in just the last 3 — part of the build-out is riding on borrowed money.

The total-debt and debt-to-equity series, which only the second data source carries, are not drawn on this page: its two data sources disagree by up to 28% on reported income across 14 comparable periods. A figure two sources cannot agree on is not drawn — the gap is a decision, not missing data.

→ Who owns this, and are they adding or leaving? Next: the register is quiet.

Ownership Who owns the stock, quarter by quarter: promoters (the controlling owners), foreign and domestic institutions, and the public. Steady accumulation by people close to the numbers is a signal; a quiet register is also an answer.

No holder of Balmer Lawrie & Company Ltd moved a full percentage point over the last two years — the register is quiet. Domestic institutions moved −0.1 points over the same window, to 1.8%. The register is read on the four disclosed classes only; nothing is inferred between filings.

The register over the last two years — Foreign institutions: −0.7 points over 8 quarters to 2.4%; Domestic institutions: −0.1 points over 8 quarters to 1.8%.

→ One last check: does the safety math agree? Next: the balance-sheet safety line.

Safety line The Z-score estimates how far a company sits from balance-sheet distress — above roughly 3 is safe, below roughly 1.8 is the danger zone. It was built for manufacturers, so it is not applied to banks and lenders.

Balmer Lawrie & Company Ltd: the Z-score is not available for this stock, so we say so rather than invent one. It is a distance-to-distress estimate from the balance sheet, not a forecast of failure. The debt, cash-flow and return sections above carry the balance-sheet evidence this page does hold, and each of them states its own reporting date.

The safety line in one sentence: the Z-score is not available for this stock, so we say so rather than invent one.

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