India’s second-oldest listed company, 160 years young, with businesses ranging from tea to dentistry to Go First’s epic nosedive. So what exactly is Bombay Burmah… and more importantly, why is it even listed? 🍵🛫🦷
Here’s your full EduInvesting 13-point breakdown – legacy stock meets legacy confusion:
1. 📦 At a Glance
Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation Ltd (BBTCL) is a Wadia Group holding company that owns bits of:
- Britannia 🍪
- Bombay Dyeing 🧵
- Go Airlines (now grounded) 🛫
- National Peroxide 🧪
- Dental & ortho product units 🦷
- Plantation estates in Tamil Nadu & Tanzania 🌱
With ₹18,000+ Cr revenue and ₹2,199 Cr FY25 PAT, it trades at just 12x earnings. But scratch the surface, and you’ll find decades of family-driven cross-holdings, land deals, and balance sheet gymnastics.
2. 🏗️ WTF Do They Even Do?
“Everything and nothing. Simultaneously.”
BBTCL is an umbrella for the Wadia Empire’s leftovers and legacies:
- Britannia stake (50.55%) is the crown jewel
- Dental/Healthcare via Leased Subsidiaries (e.g., HOBBS Medical)
- Plantations (Tea/Coffee in South India, ex-Tanzania)
- Go Airlines: Filed for IBC in 2023
- Investments in National Peroxide + land parcels
So basically: FMCG meets Pharma meets Real Estate meets Airline NPA.
3. 📈 Financials – Profit, Margins, Growth
| Metric | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue (Cr) | ₹16,623 | ₹17,109 | ₹18,298 |
| Net Profit (Cr) | -₹534 | ₹1,737 | ₹2,199 |
| OPM % | 10% | 17% | 17% |
| ROCE | 16% | 28% | 35% |
| ROE | -12% | 21% | 22% |
| EPS (₹) | -240 | 98 | 161 |
That’s a 2-year earnings swing of ₹2,700 Cr.
Why? Because Go First’s write-down happened in FY23. It’s now flushed out.
4. 💰 Valuation – Is It Cheap, Meh, or Crack?
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| CMP | ₹1,947 |
| EPS (FY25) | ₹161 |
| P/E | 12.05x ✅ |
| Book Value | ₹807 |
| P/B | 2.4x |
| Market Cap | ₹13,584 Cr |
🧠 For a company owning 50% of Britannia (worth ₹70,000 Cr) alone, this is trading like it forgot its own balance sheet.
5. 🔥 What’s Cooking – News & Chaos
- FY25 Profit = ₹2,199 Cr → Massive bounce post Go First impairment
- Sold 3957 acres of Tanzania tea estates 🫖
- Sold land + windmills in Kanyakumari (₹50.1 Cr) 💸
- Acquired 14.96% stake in National Peroxide in Jan 2023 🧪
- Still owns 50.55% of Britannia — which is worth ~₹70K Cr
So… why is BBTCL worth only ₹13K Cr? 🤷♂️
Answer: holding structure + no clear unlock plan + Go First debt ghosts
6. 🧾 Balance Sheet – How Messy Is It?
| Metric | FY25 |
|---|---|
| Net Worth | ₹5,632 Cr |
| Total Assets | ₹12,723 Cr |
| Borrowings | ₹1,574 Cr |
| Investments | ₹5,332 Cr |
| D/E Ratio | 0.28x ✅ |
🧱 Cleaner than before. Borrowings are down significantly from ₹6,542 Cr in FY23 → ₹1,574 Cr now.
📌 But majority of value is in Britannia stake — which isn’t monetized.
7. 💵 Cash Flow – Real Money or Paper Profits?
| Year | CFO (₹ Cr) | CFI (₹ Cr) | CFF (₹ Cr) | Net Cash |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY23 | ₹2,475 | -₹1,819 | -₹705 | -₹50 |
| FY24 | ₹2,038 | ₹3,814 | -₹5,648 | ₹204 |
| FY25 | ₹2,278 | -₹902 | -₹1,844 | -₹469 |
📊 FY24 saw a big investing inflow — likely from stake or land sales.
8. 🧮 Ratios – Sexy or Stressy?
| Ratio | FY25 |
|---|---|
| ROE | 21.9% |
| ROCE | 35.5% |
| OPM | 17% |
| Inventory Days | 44 |
| Debtor Days | 10 |
| Cash Conversion | -6 days |
| D/E | 0.28x |
✅ Operational metrics are excellent
❗ But sustainability depends on Britannia + one-offs
9. 💸 P&L Breakdown – Segment Heavy?
Yes. But BBTCL doesn’t break out detailed segmental P&L publicly.
Most operating profit comes via:
- Dividend income / share of profit from Britannia
- Plantation margins
- Dental/Healthcare via foreign subsidiaries
There’s non-linear correlation between revenue and profits, making this an analyst’s headache.
10. 🧺 Peer Comparison – Who Else?
| Company | P/E | ROE | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nestle India | 75.6x | 83% | ₹2.3L Cr |
| Britannia | 64.5x | 52.9% | ₹1.4L Cr |
| BBTCL (Parent) | 12x | 22% | ₹13.6K Cr |
Holding companies always trade at discount, but this is a literal Britannia hiding behind tea leaves.
11. 🧪 Misc – Shareholding, Governance, Legacy
- Promoter holding = 74.05%
- FIIs hold 9.6%
- Only 14.88% is public float
- Zero activist push despite obvious holding structure discount
BBTCL = “Wadia Family Office with a ticker symbol.”
No listing benefit being passed to minority holders.
12. 🎯 Fair Value – How Much Is It Really Worth?
Let’s apply HoldCo discount logic:
- Britannia stake = ₹35,000 Cr (50% x ₹70K Cr)
- Add: Other ops + land + investments = ₹2,000–3,000 Cr
- Total Asset Value (Gross) = ₹38,000 Cr
- Apply HoldCo discount of 65% → FV ≈ ₹13,300 Cr
🎯 Fair Value Range = ₹1,800 – ₹2,200 per share
⚠️ CMP ₹1,947 = fairly priced, maybe slightly undervalued, if they don’t sell Britannia.
13. 🧑⚖️ EduInvesting Verdict™
Pros:
✅ Britannia stake = solid base
✅ Turnaround from Go First write-down
✅ Clean debt position
✅ Strong OPM/ROCE
Cons:
🚫 No clarity on monetization
🚫 Zero investor communication
🚫 Complex multi-business holdco
🚫 Wadia group drama potential (restructuring history, board exits, etc.)
Final Take:
“Bombay Burmah is like a trunk full of family heirlooms — valuable, dusty, and not for sale. Unless the Wadias decide to clean house or unlock value, the stock might just remain a hidden gem… buried under a Go First plane wreck.”
✍️ Written by Prashant | 📅 10 July 2025
Tags: Bombay Burmah, Wadia Group, Britannia Holding Company, Tea Estates, FMCG Stocks, Hidden Value Stocks, Go First Insolvency, Deep Value India, EduInvesting
