🧠 At a Glance
Ceeta Industries, a low-profile ₹75 Cr micro-cap from the Poddar Group, has transformed from a granite trader into a snacks manufacturer. Its brand SKITOS plays in the competitive namkeen and chips space. Despite 88% sales growth and a turnaround in FY25, the stock trades at a nosebleed 112x P/E. Investors must ask – is this a serious FMCG play or just a flavour-of-the-year rally?
🍟 1. Introduction – From Stone to Salt
Imagine telling your grandkids you built your empire selling both granite and potato chips. That’s Ceeta Industries for you.
Once a granite and essential oils trader (yes, the skincare and countertop combo), Ceeta Industries Ltd (CIL) is now serving SKITOS – a humble namkeen brand – hoping to be the next PepsiCo pe bhari desi competitor.
But can a tiny ₹5 Cr revenue company compete in the same space as Nestlé, Britannia, or even regional thalaivas like Bikaji or Haldirams?
Let’s find out.
🏭 2. WTF Do They Even Do?
Core Business Segments:
- 🥔 Packaged Foods (Main business): Manufacturing of potato chips, namkeens and other snacks under the brand SKITOS.
- 🏭 Contract Manufacturing: Job-work orders for other brands (names undisclosed).
- 💸 Financial Income: Deployment of surplus capital into investments and loans (a significant chunk of profits comes from here).
Key Products:
- Potato chips (Classic, Masala, Cream & Onion, etc.)
- Namkeen
- Other RTE (Ready-to-Eat) snacks
While the product portfolio sounds promising, revenue tells a more sobering tale – just ₹22 Cr in FY25 sales.
📊 3. Financials – Does the Math Crunch?
| Metric | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | ₹11.74 Cr | ₹22.03 Cr |
| EBITDA | -₹1.74 Cr | ₹1.06 Cr |
| Net Profit | -₹1.60 Cr | ₹2.75 Cr |
| ROE | -7% | 3% |
| ROCE | -3.73% | 3.97% |
| Other Income | ₹1.40 Cr | ₹4.16 Cr |
🧂 Spicy Takeaways:
- Revenue doubled in FY25. Good.
- Operating margins are thin as kurkure. Barely turned positive.
- Most of the net profit came from other income, not core operations.
This is a red flag. If you’re making more from idle money than from chips, are you even a food company?
💰 4. Valuation – Is This Justified or Just Masala?
Let’s run the math.
- Market Cap: ₹75.3 Cr
- Net Profit (TTM): ₹2.75 Cr
- EPS (FY25): ₹1.90
- P/E Ratio: 112x
- Book Value: ₹18.9 → P/B Ratio: 2.75x
🎯 Fair Value Estimate:
Let’s assume:
- FY26 Net Profit = ₹3.5 Cr (optimistic 27% jump)
- Apply a conservative FMCG P/E of 25x
🧮 Fair Value = 3.5 x 25 = ₹87.5 Cr Market Cap → ~₹60/share
But apply a more realistic 15x (for small caps) → ₹3.5 x 15 = ₹52.5 Cr → ₹36–40/share FV
✅ FV Range: ₹36–₹60
At ₹51.9 today, it’s priced for perfection – and chips usually don’t age that well.
🧨 5. What’s Cooking – Any Triggers?
- ✅ FY25 turnaround – Operating profit finally turned positive
- ✅ Massive reduction in working capital days – from 1300+ days to 137 days
- 🤫 Branding play? They’re trying to build SKITOS into a real B2C brand
- 🔄 Management rejig – MD and auditors reappointed, audit passed, committees restructured
- 🧑🍳 Factory Utilization & Job Work – If they start manufacturing for big brands at scale, margins can improve
But here’s the catch: no aggressive marketing, no visible SKITOS brand buzz, no disclosure of major FMCG tie-ups.
🧾 6. Balance Sheet – Solid Base or Hollow Cone?
| Metric | FY25 |
|---|---|
| Equity Capital | ₹1.45 Cr |
| Reserves | ₹25.9 Cr |
| Borrowings | ₹4.86 Cr |
| Total Assets | ₹33.88 Cr |
🥤 Debt is manageable, and reserves are healthy. But fixed assets have jumped (₹18 Cr from ₹1.1 Cr), suggesting a large capacity addition – probably for snacks manufacturing.
Big bet for a small company.
💵 7. Cash Flow – Sab Number Game Hai
| FY25 | ₹ Cr |
|---|---|
| CFO | ₹1.28 |
| CFI | ₹7.67 |
| CFF | -₹8.92 |
Positive operating cash flow is a relief after years of red ink. But investing activity (maybe equipment/factory expansion) and debt repayment sucked out all liquidity.
It’s a make-or-break investment cycle.
📉 8. Ratios – Sexy or Stressy?
| Ratio | Value |
|---|---|
| ROE | 2.58% |
| ROCE | 3.97% |
| OPM | 4.81% |
| Working Capital Days | 137 |
| Inventory Days | 107.6 |
| P/B | 2.75x |
📉 Verdict: Extremely low return ratios. Company has only recently achieved OPM > 0%. Needs multiple strong years to justify current valuation.
🧾 9. P&L Breakdown – What Are They Selling Exactly?
| FY25 |
|---|
| Sales: ₹22.03 Cr |
| Operating Profit: ₹1.06 Cr |
| Other Income: ₹4.16 Cr |
| Net Profit: ₹2.75 Cr |
| EPS: ₹1.90 |
More money from idle investments than potato chips. 🍟
That’s not how Britannia was built.
⚔️ 10. Peer Comparison – Small Fish in a Salty Ocean
| Company | P/E | OPM | ROCE | Sales (₹ Cr) | PAT (₹ Cr) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nestle | 74.3 | 23.6% | 95.7% | 20,201 | 3,096 |
| Britannia | 63.5 | 17.7% | 53.0% | 17,942 | 2,196 |
| Bikaji | 95.9 | 12.5% | 18.1% | 2,621 | 194 |
| Gopal Snacks | 80.3 | 7.2% | 16.7% | 1,468 | 54 |
| Ceeta | 112 | 4.8% | 3.9% | 22 | 2.75 |
🎭 Ceeta is trading at a higher P/E than even Bikaji, but delivers far worse metrics.
👨👩👧 11. Shareholding & Management
- Promoter Holding: 71.92% – consistent
- DIIs: Negligible
- Public Holding: ~28%
- Retail Shareholders: 20,130
👍 Stability in promoter holding. But zero FII/DII interest indicates institutions aren’t biting into SKITOS yet.
🧠 12. EduInvesting Verdict™
Ceeta Industries is like that YouTube chef who makes decent snacks but mostly earns from affiliate links.
Their transformation story is real. The turnaround in FY25 is a positive. But 112x P/E for a ₹22 Cr revenue namkeen company? That’s not value investing – that’s Valuation ka Namak Chadhana™.
Unless core snack business scales rapidly or a big FMCG contract drops, the stock is priced too optimistically.
📉 Fair Value Range: ₹36 – ₹60
🍿 For now, enjoy SKITOS, not the stock.
✍️ Written by Prashant | 📅 July 3, 2025
Tags: Ceeta Industries, SKITOS, FMCG microcaps, Namkeen stocks, Packaged Food India, EduInvesting, BSE microcap, turnaround stories, low float stock, valuation bubble
