Standard Engineering Technology Ltd · SETL

Formerly Standard Glass Lining Technology — glass-lined and precision process equipment for pharma & chemicals, moving toward turnkey plant execution · listed Jan 2025 · NSE SETL / BSE 544333
Stage-2 shortlistMcap ₹5,440 crCMP ₹273 (24-Jul)52w ₹105–306
8.7%ROCE
6.7%ROE
132P/E (ttm)
13%OPM FY26
0.05D/E
+7.2%Sales 3y CAGR
+27.1%PAT 3y CAGR
279 daysCCC

1 · Business

Hyderabad-based maker of glass-lined reactors and precision process equipment for pharmaceutical and chemical plants, repositioning post-IPO (Jan 2025) as an end-to-end engineering house — design, fabrication, commissioning, turnkey execution. The rename from 'Standard Glass Lining' to 'Standard Engineering Technology' is the strategy in one line.

2 · P&L quality

YearSalesOp. profitOPM %Other inc.PBTPAT
FY22153271812116
FY23210321542720
FY24209371783426
FY251963015183729
FY262593313305341

This is the dossier's central finding: ₹30 cr of the ₹53 cr FY26 PBT is other income — interest on the IPO cash pile, not operations. The operating business earned ₹33 cr on ₹259 cr of sales at a 13% margin that has slid from 18% (FY22), with the March-2026 quarter down to 8.5%. Reported PAT growth (+27%/yr) is largely a treasury artefact; core operating profit has grown ~5%/yr over three years.

3 · Balance sheet

Post-IPO pristine: ₹35 cr borrowings against ₹638 cr net worth (D/E 0.05), ₹94 cr investments plus a large cash/receivables pool. The working-capital cycle is the blemish — 370 inventory days, 279-day cash conversion cycle. Equipment-makers carry work-in-progress, but this is heavy even for the sector.

4 · Cash flow

YearCFOCFICFFFCF
FY221-4140-2
FY232-2629-14
FY24-12-190212-19
FY257-223200-8
FY2618-15-3-6

Cumulative CFO over five years is roughly ₹16 cr against ₹132 cr of cumulative PAT — profit has consistently been absorbed into inventory and receivables. FY26 CFO of ₹18 cr (90% of the much-diminished operating profit) is the best conversion yet, but the bar was low.

5 · Returns

ROCE 8.7%, ROE 6.7% — both diluted by the idle IPO capital, and both below cost of capital. Even granting the treasury drag, the operating returns are modest and falling with the margin.

6 · Shareholding

Screener did not return a shareholding table for this listing this run — promoter %, trend and pledge are unverified. For a January-2025 listing approaching its lock-in expiries, this is a material gap: check the exchange filing.

7 · Valuation

132× trailing earnings — and that trailing figure is majority treasury income. Priced on the operating business alone (₹33 cr op. profit, falling margin), the effective multiple is far higher still. 8.5× book for single-digit ROCE. The market is paying for the turnkey-transition story well before the P&L shows it.

8 · Quarterly cadence

QuarterSalesOp. profitOPM %Other inc.PAT
Jun-2440.87.017.12.44.9
Sep-2459.68.814.84.58.0
Dec-2440.26.015.03.95.5
Mar-2555.88.615.47.510.3
Jun-2567.413.720.48.014.8
Sep-2552.76.111.57.78.7
Dec-2560.46.110.17.48.8
Mar-2678.26.78.57.08.9

Eight quarters of ₹40–78 cr sales with no clean seasonality. The trend inside FY26 is the warning: OPM stepped down every quarter — 20.4% → 11.5% → 10.1% → 8.5% — while other income (₹7–8 cr every quarter, steady as a coupon) held reported PAT flat. Revenue is growing; the margin on it is not.

VIEW — the thesis, honestly

What you must believe to own it: that the turnkey-engineering transition lifts operating margins back toward the old 18% before the market notices that today's earnings are mostly interest on the IPO float. The balance sheet buys time and the revenue line has started moving (+32% in FY26). What breaks the thesis: the current trajectory simply continuing — OPM fell every quarter of FY26 to 8.5%, the cash-conversion cycle is 279 days, and at 132× reported (mostly non-operating) earnings there is no room for the operating story to stall. The promoter register is also unverified this run. Of this week's cohort, this is the widest gap between what the price assumes and what the operations currently deliver.

For

  • Post-IPO balance sheet pristine: D/E 0.05, cash-rich, dilution behind it
  • FY26 sales +32% — the top line has started moving; deepest liquidity in the shortlist cohort
  • Credible strategic repositioning into higher-value turnkey engineering

Against / understand first

  • 57% of FY26 PBT is other income (IPO-cash interest) — the P/E of 132 is on earnings that are mostly not operating
  • Core OPM sliding: 18% (FY22) → 13% (FY26), and every FY26 quarter fell sequentially to 8.5%
  • 279-day cash conversion cycle (370 inventory days); five-year cumulative CFO ≈ ₹16 cr vs ₹132 cr PAT
  • Shareholding pattern unavailable this run — promoter trend unverified into lock-in expiry
iList tier-2 dossier · data: screener.in via Screener MCP, fetched 2026-07-25 · figures in ₹ crore unless noted · a dash means the source did not provide the value — nothing here is estimated.
Research and education only. Not investment advice. Registered advice: consult a SEBI-registered adviser.