1. At a Glance
Polson Ltd is the Benjamin Button of the Indian stock market — over a century old (incorporated in 1900), trading at ₹13,000+, barely moves, and nobody talks about it. It’s like that secret club of legacy stocks whose valuation comes more from mystery than momentum. But behind the vintage price tag lies a struggling specialty chemicals business that hasn’t grown in a decade.
2. WTF Do They Even Do?
📦 Core Business: Manufacturing eco-friendly vegetable tannins and leather chemicals
🌿 Niche: Natural-based tanning substances for the domestic and export market
🧪 Use Case: Leather processing — think shoes, jackets, upholstery
🧠 Translation: They make chemicals that make your leather products less evil (and maybe less itchy).
3. Financials Overview – Century-Old, But Barely Walking
| Metric | FY21 | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales (₹ Cr) | 88.6 | 97.5 | 83.9 | 96.4 | 93.3 |
| Net Profit (₹ Cr) | 8.5 | 6.2 | 4.8 | 5.2 | 5.2 |
| OPM (%) | 17.6% | 15.9% | 17.0% | 16.5% | 16.1% |
| ROCE (%) | 9.5% | 8.1% | 6.5% | 7.0% | 6.6% |
| ROE (%) | 4.2% | 4.2% | 4.0% | 4.2% | 4.2% |
📉 Revenue CAGR (5Y): -1%
📉 Profit CAGR (5Y): -6%
4. Valuation – Is It Cheap, Meh, or Crack?
- CMP: ₹13,100
- EPS (FY25): ₹261.5
- P/E: 30.06x
- Book Value: ₹6,330 → P/B ~2.07x
- Market Cap: ₹157 Cr
- Dividend: ₹0.00 for the last 12 years 😑
📊 EduFair Value Range™
Assuming 15x–20x earnings for a specialty chemical microcap (fair value range):
→ FV = ₹3,900 – ₹5,200 per share
🔥 CMP is 2.5x overpriced based on fundamentals.
5. What’s Cooking – Anything at All?
- 🧾 No dividends since 2011
- 💸 Low capex, no acquisitions, no R&D spend
- 🧹 Secretarial compliance issues flagged (minor penalties paid)
- 📉 Stock is illiquid AF — no real volumes, zero coverage
This isn’t a momentum play. This is a spiritual test of patience.
6. Balance Sheet – Not Shiny, But Not Broken
| Metric | FY25 |
|---|---|
| Total Assets | ₹189 Cr |
| Reserves | ₹126 Cr |
| Borrowings | ₹40 Cr |
| Networth | ₹127 Cr |
| Equity Capital | ₹0.6 Cr |
📊 No major asset buildup, almost everything is working capital.
🏦 Debt is low but persistent, with no signs of planned reduction.
7. Cash Flow – Cash In, But Where’s It Going?
| Year | CFO | CFI | CFF | Net Cash |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY25 | ₹17.2 Cr | -₹18.7 Cr | ₹1.67 Cr | ₹0.21 Cr |
| FY24 | ₹25.4 Cr | -₹9.7 Cr | -₹15.2 Cr | ₹0.45 Cr |
| FY23 | ₹12.1 Cr | -₹0.07 Cr | -₹15.2 Cr | -₹3.11 Cr |
💸 Generates cash… but reinvests in minor capex
📉 No shareholder returns, no aggressive growth
8. Ratios – Midfield Mediocrity
| Ratio | Value |
|---|---|
| ROCE | 6.6% |
| ROE | 4.2% |
| OPM | 16.1% |
| Interest Coverage | ~2.9x |
| Inventory Days | 123.6 |
| Cash Conversion | 100 Days |
📦 Inventory days are massive, working capital locked
⛔ Not efficient, not exciting, not expanding
9. P&L Breakdown – EPS is Real but Dull
- Revenue stuck around ₹90–100 Cr for a decade
- PAT margins between 5–6%
- EPS (FY25): ₹261.5
- No special income. No turnaround plans. Just a clean but flat P&L.
🪫 Flat EPS + Rising P/E = Purely price-driven valuation, not earnings
10. Peer Comparison – Outclassed in Every Department
| Company | ROE (%) | OPM (%) | P/E | CMP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polson | 4.2 | 16.1 | 30.1 | ₹13,100 |
| Vinati Organics | 15.7 | 26.0 | 48.5 | ₹1,945 |
| Deepak Nitrite | 13.7 | 13.1 | 38.4 | ₹1,963 |
| Navin Fluorine | 11.5 | 22.7 | 84.7 | ₹4,933 |
⚖️ Polson looks expensive for a company with no moat, no growth, no dividends.
11. Misc – Shareholding, Mystery, and Madness
- 👨👩👧 Promoters: 74.98%
- 🧍♂️ Public: ~25%
- 👀 Only ~3,500 shareholders
- 📉 Volumes? Basically zero
- 🎯 No mutual fund, no DII, no FII
🕵️♂️ A classic example of “price is not equal to value”. Could easily be a family-run private company masquerading as listed.
12. KMPs – Who Even Are They?
- No investor presentation
- No quarterly concalls
- No visible succession planning or media presence
- Appointed a new secretarial auditor in FY25 — that’s the only update
🤷♂️ Even Sherlock Holmes would have trouble finding out what they’re planning.
13. EduInvesting Verdict™
Polson isn’t a value trap. It’s more like an “existence trap” — it’s there, it trades, but nothing seems to happen. At ₹13,000 a pop, you expect at least some buzz, right?
✅ Debt under control
✅ Decent operating margins
❌ No growth
❌ No coverage
❌ No dividends
❌ No movement
🧂 “It’s the kind of stock you inherit, not buy. And once you have it, you don’t sell it — because nobody’s there to buy.”
✍️ Written by Prashant | 📅 6 July 2025
Tags: Polson Ltd, Illiquid Stocks India, Specialty Chemicals, Leather Tanning Industry, ₹10K+ Stocks, No Dividend Companies, Legacy Stocks, EduInvesting
