1. At a Glance – 106 Years Old, Still Full of Surprises
Alfred Herbert (India) Ltd is that rare uncle at the family function who is 106 years old, mostly silent, suddenly clears his throat, and casually announces he sold ancestral land worth ₹485.9 crore. The market cap is sitting at roughly ₹217 crore, the stock price is around ₹2,817, and the book value is a jaw-dropping ₹7,340 per share, which means the stock is trading at barely 0.38 times book value. Return over the last three months is an ugly -14.2%, six months is -6.95%, but one year is a respectable +34.3%. ROE is a sleepy 5.22%, ROCE is 5.86%, and debt is practically zero. Then comes the kicker: quarterly PAT of ₹13.5 crore, quarterly sales of ₹17.6 crore, and EPS numbers that look like a typing error—₹5,506 for one quarter and ₹175 in another. This is not a typo; this is what happens when a quiet NBFC suddenly monetises land it has been sitting on since the British were still running the place. Curious yet, or already suspicious?
2. Introduction – From British-Era Machine Tools to Property Lottery Winner
Founded in 1919, Alfred Herbert (India) Ltd has seen empires rise and fall, currencies change, and SEBI invent new regulations every other week. Originally a major supplier of machine tools and imported industrial machinery, the company later set up manufacturing in Bangalore for rubber and tyre machinery. In 1999, it pushed that manufacturing business into a 100% subsidiary, Alfred Herbert Ltd, probably thinking it was being clever.
Fast forward to the present, and the company is technically an NBFC whose main activities include investments, loans, and generally minding its own business. Manufacturing still exists, but more like that failed startup your cousin runs—kept alive emotionally, not economically. The real action now happens in investments, fair value gains, dividends, and, most dramatically, real estate monetisation.
What makes Alfred Herbert fascinating is not steady compounding or textbook NBFC metrics. It’s the sheer randomness of earnings. One quarter you get nothing. The next quarter you get ₹481 crore of “other income” because a piece of land in Whitefield finally found a buyer. The stock doesn’t move logically; it reacts emotionally. And investors? They oscillate between “deep value” and “what the hell just happened?”
3. Business Model – WTF Do They Even Do?
Let’s simplify this for the lazy but smart investor.
Alfred Herbert operates through two main segments:
First, Realty, Investments & NBFC activities. This is the adult in the room. The company invests in securities, gives loans, earns interest income (about 9% of FY22 revenue), dividend income (5%), and books fair value gains (17%). It also earns
chunky “other income,” which, as we now know, can sometimes include selling land worth hundreds of crores.
Second, Manufacturing operations, housed in its subsidiary Alfred Herbert Ltd. This unit manufactures machinery for the rubber and tyre industry—or at least it used to. Despite receiving ₹521.89 lakh in loans over the years, it kept bleeding. Management finally accepted reality, shut down in-house manufacturing, rationalised manpower, and now executes spare parts orders through third-party vendors. Translation: the factory dream is dead, but the spare parts shop is still open.
So what is Alfred Herbert today? It’s essentially a holding company with NBFC characteristics, legacy manufacturing baggage, and a real estate portfolio that occasionally drops financial bombs on the P&L. Does this sound like a clean business model? No. Is it interesting? Absolutely.
4. Financials Overview – When Numbers Go Completely Off the Rails
Result Type Lock
The latest official announcement clearly mentions “Unaudited Financial Results for the Quarter and Six Months Ended 30th September 2025.”
This is QUARTERLY RESULTS, locked. EPS annualisation will be quarterly × 4.
Quarterly Comparison Table (₹ Crore)
| Metric | Latest Quarter (Sep FY26) | Same Qtr Last Year | Previous Qtr | YoY % | QoQ % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 17.6 | 0.84 | 5.9 | 2,128% | 198% |
| EBITDA | 16.0 | 0.32 | 4.7 | Massive | 240% |
| PAT | 13.5 | 0.03 | 0.1 | 45,133% | 13,400% |
| EPS (₹) | 175.14 | 0.39 | 0.52 | Insane | Insane |
Yes, these percentages look illegal, but they’re mathematically correct. Last year’s base was basically nothing. This quarter includes meaningful operating profit plus the lingering effects of property-related income booked earlier in the year.
Annualised EPS using quarterly logic would be ₹175.14 × 4 = ₹700.56. Compare that with the trailing EPS of ₹5,768, and you realise this company’s earnings are not linear—they are episodic.
Do these numbers represent sustainable performance? Or are we watching a financial asteroid strike? Comment section is open.
5. Valuation Discussion – Numbers Don’t Lie, They Just Laugh
P/E Method
Current price: ₹2,817
Annualised EPS (normalised quarterly):
