LAPL Automotive IPO (6-10 August) Analysis

IPO Analysis | BSE SME | 100% Book Built Issue (Pure Fresh Issue) | Regulation 229(2) and 253(1)

Based on Draft Red Herring Prospectus dated May 18, 2026 | Automotive Components (Lighting, Motor, Mirror and Ancillary Parts) | Aurangabad, Maharashtra

STATUS: DRHP FILED | PRE-SEBI OBSERVATION STAGE | ALL BID DATES AND PRICE BAND TO BE DETERMINED

Pure Fresh Issue of up to 36,00,000 Equity Shares | No Offer for Sale | BSE SME Platform

RoNW of 30.28% (FY25) Exceeds Both Listed Peers | 9 Month Stub Profit Already Exceeds Full FY25 Profit | Related Party Supply Dependency on Promoter-Owned Firms

 LAPL Automotive Limited was incorporated as LAPL Automotive Private Limited on November 13, 2004, and converted to a public limited company on December 13, 2024. Its CIN is U34300MH2004PLC149728, with its registered office in Auric City, Shendra Industrial Area, Aurangabad, Maharashtra. The Promoters are Neeraj Satyaprakash Goyal, Shubham Neeraj Goyal and Anita Neeraj Goyal.

The Company manufactures automotive components and accessories, including lighting, motor, mirror and other ancillary components, for the automotive OEM sector, operating from 3 manufacturing facilities in Aurangabad, Maharashtra with a combined area of approximately 3,750 sq. mt. and average capacity utilisation of 66.97%.

The Company sources certain raw materials, including plastic moulded products, from Annu Industries, a proprietorship of Promoter Anita Neeraj Goyal, and from Riyansh Industries Private Limited, another Promoter Group entity, both of which the Company has exclusive business arrangements with rather than a formal non-compete agreement, discussed further in Section 6.

Revenue from operations grew from Rs.6,007.48 Lakhs in Fiscal 2023 to Rs.6,597.53 Lakhs in Fiscal 2025, and reached Rs.6,176.19 Lakhs in the 9 month stub period ended December 31, 2025, already close to matching the whole of Fiscal 2025 in three-quarters of the time.

PAT grew from Rs.198.04 Lakhs in Fiscal 2023 to Rs.503.45 Lakhs in Fiscal 2025, and the 9 month stub period alone recorded Rs.564.45 Lakhs, already exceeding the full Fiscal 2025 figure. EBITDA margin more than doubled from 7.74% to 16.74% over the period, and the Debt-Equity ratio has improved from 1.15 times (FY24) to 0.79 times (9 month stub).

Key Basics

Particulars	Details
Document Type	Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) dated May 18, 2026. Pre-SEBI observation stage; all [TBD] items including Price Band and Bid dates remain undetermined.
Issue Structure	100% Book Built Issue, entirely a Fresh Issue of up to 36,00,000 Equity Shares (no Offer for Sale). Face value Rs.10 per share.
Face Value	Rs.10 per Equity Share.
Promoters	Neeraj Satyaprakash Goyal, Shubham Neeraj Goyal and Anita Neeraj Goyal. The average cost of acquisition of Equity Shares held by the Promoters is disclosed as lower than the likely Issue Price, a standard SME disclosure item.
Selling Shareholders	Not applicable. This Issue is entirely a Fresh Issue; there is no Offer for Sale.
Eligibility Route	Regulation 229(2) and 253(1) of Chapter IX of the SEBI ICDR Regulations, 2018.
Listing Exchange	SME Platform of BSE Limited (BSE SME); in-principle approval not yet obtained as of this DRHP.
BRLM	GYR Capital Advisors Private Limited.
Registrar	Maashitla Securities Private Limited.
Bid or Issue Dates	Not yet determined; this is a DRHP at pre-SEBI observation stage.
Listed Peers, One Line	2 listed peers (Minda Corporation Limited and Fiem Industries Limited), both substantially larger by revenue, with the Company's RoNW exceeding both.

The most structurally distinctive feature of this offer is the Company's reliance on 2 Promoter Group entities, Annu Industries (a proprietorship of Promoter Anita Neeraj Goyal) and Riyansh Industries Private Limited, for supply of certain raw materials and components, governed by exclusive business arrangements rather than a formal non-compete agreement. The proposed new manufacturing facility funded by this Issue is intended, among other things, to bring some of this currently outsourced production in-house.

How Will the IPO Money Be Used?

Object	Estimated Amount (Rs. Lakhs)	Substantiation
Capital expenditure for new manufacturing facility (Auric City, Shendra, Aurangabad)	1,956.00	Total project cost independently certified by 2 named chartered engineers pursuant to a project report dated May 7, 2026; balance of Rs.279.35 Lakhs to be funded from internal accruals. The new facility (approximately 9,764 sq. mt.) will expand capacity for lighting and motor products and bring in-house certain plastic moulded components currently procured from a Promoter Group entity.
Repayment and/or prepayment of secured borrowings	478.88 (up to 490.80 in the funding table)	A specific rupee figure disclosed; not itemised lender by lender in the summary reviewed here.
General corporate purposes	[TBD]	Capped at 15% of Gross Proceeds or Rs.10 Crore, whichever is lower. No further breakdown provided, as is standard.

The capital expenditure plan for the new manufacturing facility is reasonably well substantiated, with the total project cost independently certified by 2 named chartered engineers and a clear rationale (relieving space constraints at the existing 66.97%-utilised facilities and reducing dependence on a Promoter Group supplier for plastic moulded components).

The specific caveat, which the Company's own Risk Factors disclose, is that orders for the underlying plant and machinery have not yet been placed as of this DRHP, so cost and timing execution risk remains open. As this is still a DRHP, the Gross Proceeds, Net Proceeds and General Corporate Purposes figures all remain undetermined.

Financial Performance

P&L and Key Metrics (Rs. Lakhs unless stated)

Particulars	Dec 2025 (9mo stub)	FY 2025	FY 2024
Revenue from operations	6,176.19 (9mo stub)	6,597.53	6,073.48
Total income	6,277.01 (9mo stub)	6,707.28	6,103.39
EBITDA	1,050.71 (9mo stub)	993.59	537.66
EBITDA margin (%)	16.74 (9mo stub)	14.81	8.81
Profit after tax	564.45 (9mo stub)	503.45	217.37
PAT margin (%)	9.14 (9mo stub)	7.63	3.58
Return on equity (%)	29.02 (not annualized)	35.68	20.69
Return on capital employed (%)	26.44 (not annualized)	30.85	21.65
Net worth	2,227.04	1,662.59	1,159.14
NAV per equity share, post bonus (Rs.)	25.31	18.89	13.17
Debt to equity ratio (times)	0.79	0.95	1.15

This is one of the reports in this series where the most recent period presented is a 9 month stub (through December 31, 2025) rather than a full fiscal year, so the RoE and RoCE figures for that period are not annualised and should not be directly compared to the full-year FY25 and FY24 figures.

Within that caveat, the trend is strong and improving on every metric: revenue grew a modest 1.10% in FY24 before accelerating to 8.63% in FY25 (independently confirmed against the RHP's own figures), while PAT growth has been sharper throughout, and EBITDA margin has more than doubled from 7.74% (FY23) to 16.74% (9 month stub). The Debt-Equity ratio has also improved steadily from 1.15 times (FY24) to 0.79 times (9 month stub), a genuine deleveraging trend running alongside the profitability improvement.

The 9 month stub period's PAT of Rs.564.45 Lakhs already exceeds the entirety of FY 2025's Rs.503.45 Lakhs, which is a meaningfully positive signal on current-year momentum, though as with any stub period, this reflects only 9 months of trading and should not be mechanically annualised to project a full-year outcome.

How Does It Compare to Peers?

Company	Total Income FY25 (Rs. Lakhs)	Diluted EPS (Rs.)	P/E (times)	RoNW (%)	NAV/Share (Rs.)
LAPL Automotive Limited	6,707.28	5.72	N/A (Price TBD)	30.28	18.89
Minda Corporation Limited	5,08,860.00	10.85	50.25	11.60	92.11
Fiem Industries Limited	2,43,872.84	77.86	29.04	19.74	394.45

The DRHP discloses 2 listed peers, Minda Corporation Limited and Fiem Industries Limited, both substantially larger than LAPL Automotive, ranging from roughly 36 times to 76 times the Company's own FY 2025 total income.

On the ratio most comparable regardless of scale, RoNW, LAPL Automotive's 30.28% is higher than both peers (11.60% and 19.74%), suggesting efficient capital use for a company at this stage, though this partly reflects a smaller, more recently built equity base rather than being directly comparable to these much larger, diversified auto component manufacturers. LAPL Automotive's own P/E and further peer detail remain undetermined pending price band finalisation.

Key Risks

l The Company depends on 2 Promoter Group entities, Annu Industries (a proprietorship of Promoter Anita Neeraj Goyal) and Riyansh Industries Private Limited, for certain raw materials and components under exclusive business arrangements rather than a formal non-compete agreement; both entities operate in a similar line of business to the Company, creating an ongoing, disclosed potential conflict of interest that is only partially mitigated by the exclusivity arrangement.

l The Company has disclosed historical share allotment and transfer compliance gaps, including a rights issue in FY 2020-21 where certain subscription monies were received outside the prescribed offer period, and a FY 2014-15 allotment against conversion of unsecured loans that did not follow applicable non-cash consideration valuation and approval requirements; compounding applications have been filed with the Registrar of Companies, Mumbai II in relation to these matters, and while no penalties have been imposed to date, outcomes remain uncertain.

l Certain historical Registrar of Companies filings (Form 2 relating to share allotments and Form 18 relating to registered office changes) could not be obtained in certified form due to RoC record retention limitations, even though a Practicing Company Secretary's physical search confirmed the underlying records exist in physical form.

l Orders for the plant and machinery required for the new manufacturing facility, the largest identified Object of the Issue (Rs.1,956.00 Lakhs), have not yet been placed as of this DRHP, exposing that Object to cost and timing execution risk.

l Revenue is concentrated in Maharashtra both for sales and raw material procurement, and the Company derives a significant portion of revenue from a limited number of customers, with more than 90% of revenue coming from the top 10 customers.

l Certain educational documents of Promoter Neeraj Goyal, including his original degree certificate, are untraceable (though a final year marksheet is available), and Promoter and Non-Executive Director Anita Neeraj Goyal holds only a matriculation-level formal qualification, notwithstanding her more than 22 years of practical industry experience.

l The Company has experienced minor delays in statutory filings, including GST, EPF and ESIC returns, across several periods, attributed to administrative and technical factors and since addressed through strengthened compliance processes.

l None of the Company's Directors have prior experience serving on the board of a listed company.

l The Company's manufacturing operations depend substantially on contractual labour, and the business carries risks typical of a manufacturing operation, including reliance on continued availability of electricity and water, and exposure to fire, accident and other operating hazards.

l The Company has not had its Net Proceeds fund requirements independently appraised by any bank or financial institution, and any future need to vary the Objects of the Issue would require shareholder special resolution approval, which may not be obtained in a timely manner.

l The Company carries contingent liabilities not provided for, and is party to certain litigation and claims involving the Company and its Promoters, pending at various stages.

l Manufacturing facilities may operate at under-utilised capacity (current average utilisation of 66.97%), and the Company faces the usual execution risks associated with its proposed capacity expansion.

Positives to Note

l Profitability and margins have improved steadily and substantially: EBITDA margin more than doubled from 7.74% in FY 2023 to 16.74% in the 9 month stub period, and PAT grew from Rs.198.04 Lakhs to Rs.564.45 Lakhs (9 month stub, already exceeding the full FY25 figure) over the same window.

l RoNW of 30.28% (FY25) is higher than both of the Company's disclosed listed peers, Minda Corporation (11.60%) and Fiem Industries (19.74%), despite both being substantially larger, more established auto component manufacturers.

l The Company has been actively deleveraging, with its Debt-Equity ratio falling from 1.15 times (FY24) to 0.79 times (9 month stub through December 2025), alongside its profitability improvements.

l The new manufacturing facility's total project cost has been independently certified by 2 named chartered engineers, and the facility is intended to reduce reliance on Promoter Group-supplied components by bringing that production in-house, directly addressing one of the Company's own disclosed related-party risk factors.

l The proposed facility benefits from location in the Aurangabad Industrial City (AURIC) with connectivity to the Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway and the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, and the Company has already secured several preliminary regulatory approvals (Consent to Establish, Building and Drainage Plan Approval, Commencement Certificate, Provisional Fire Approval) for the site.

l The Company has more than 20 years of operating history (incorporated 2004), giving it a longer track record than several other newer companies in this report series, alongside continuous operations without disclosed instances of contractual termination or blacklisting by customers.

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