IPO Reviews / Q-Line Biotech

Q-Line Biotech Limited

Associate income, cash flow and debt: reading Q-Line Biotech below the EBITDA line.

Investors read below EBITDA: keep associate income, one-time items and operating cash flow separate and explained in your books before filing.

Platform
NSE Emerge
Status
Listed 29 May 2026
fresh issue
Rs 214.48 crore

The business in brief

Q-Line Biotech Limited, based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, develops, manufactures and markets reagents (the chemicals and kits used to run medical tests) and consumables, and makes, imports and distributes diagnostic equipment. It works in in-vitro diagnostics (IVD, tests done on blood or other samples outside the body) across clinical chemistry, haematology, immunodiagnostics, molecular diagnostics, and point-of-care (POC) and rapid tests. It has supplied diagnostic products since 2013, mainly to diagnostic service providers, hospitals and medical colleges, directly or through distributors. The Red Herring Prospectus (RHP) dated 16 May 2026 states that it operates four manufacturing facilities, three in Uttar Pradesh and one in Delhi.

On a consolidated, restated basis, revenue from operations was Rs 313.78 crore in FY25 (the year ended 31 March 2025) and Rs 232.42 crore in the nine months to 31 December 2025. Saurabh Garg, the Chairman and Managing Director, held 59.68% of the shares before the issue and 43.69% after it; the five promoters together held about 92% before and about 67% after, based on the share counts in the documents.

The IPO was entirely a fresh issue (new shares, with no sale by existing shareholders) of Rs 214.48 crore, as per the Prospectus dated 26 May 2026. Before the IPO, the company raised Rs 27.44 crore through a private placement of shares (a pre-IPO placement), which reduced the size of the fresh issue; that money was used for working capital. The objects of the issue (the stated uses of the money), as stated in the abridged prospectus, were Rs 90 crore to repay or prepay borrowings, Rs 93.50 crore for working capital (money needed to run day-to-day operations), and the balance for general corporate purposes (money not tied to a named use). The Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) was dated 30 September 2025. Bidding ran from 21 to 25 May 2026, and the shares were listed on NSE Emerge, the SME platform of NSE, on 29 May 2026.

Three years and a stub period in numbers

Rs crore unless statedFY23FY24FY259M to Dec 2025
Revenue from operations (Rs crore)182.74203.65313.78232.42
EBITDA (Rs crore)32.9837.6371.3264.23
EBITDA margin18.05%18.48%22.73%27.64%
Profit after tax (Rs crore)32.1034.4528.1338.69
Cash from operating activities (Rs crore)24.97(24.18)(1.32)(33.11)
Total borrowings (Rs crore)73.6596.91164.95243.85
Debt to equity (times)0.580.600.871.06
Top five customers, share of sales69.74%70.34%76.13%78.23%

Consolidated restated financial information as stated in the Abridged Prospectus accompanying the Red Herring Prospectus dated 16 May 2026. Rs lakh figures converted to Rs crore; brackets show a cash outflow. The nine-month figures are not annualised. EBITDA means earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation. Profit after tax in FY23 and FY24 is close to EBITDA because it includes the company's share in the profit of associates (see the first insight).

The deeper read

What most readers miss.

  1. 01

    Associate income explains profit close to EBITDA

    Restated profit after tax of Rs 32.10 crore (FY23) and Rs 34.45 crore (FY24) sat almost level with EBITDA of Rs 32.98 crore and Rs 37.63 crore. The company's investor presentation filed with NSE on 22 June 2026, which shows FY23 and FY24 on a restated basis, explains it: profit before tax of Rs 29.84 crore and Rs 30.60 crore, plus a share in the profit of associates of Rs 10.71 crore and Rs 12.80 crore (about 33% and 37% of profit after tax, on our arithmetic), less tax of Rs 8.46 crore and Rs 8.96 crore. The same presentation shows the associate share at Rs 3.53 crore in FY25 and nil in FY26, and the abridged prospectus describes POCT Science House Private Limited as an erstwhile associate.

    How an investor reads it. Profit from an associate is not earned by the company's own operations and may not recur, so an investor takes it out before comparing margins or growth across years.

    In your company: if group entities are accounted as associates, show profit with and without their share for every year, and settle the group structure well before the restated period begins.

  2. 02

    Operating cash was negative in three periods

    From FY23 to the nine months to December 2025, EBITDA added up to Rs 206.15 crore, while cash from operating activities added up to minus Rs 33.65 crore; investing outflows of Rs 157.16 crore were met by financing inflows of Rs 162.82 crore. The balance sheets in the investor presentation show where the cash went: inventory rose from Rs 43.59 crore to Rs 105.24 crore in FY24 (about 87 to 189 days of revenue, on our arithmetic), and trade receivables from Rs 26.44 crore to Rs 82.60 crore in FY25 (about 47 to 96 days, on our arithmetic).

    How an investor reads it. When operating cash stays below EBITDA period after period, an investor looks to borrowings and the issue as the source of growth funding and reads the working capital cycle closely.

    In your company: before a large stock build or a new credit-heavy customer, model its effect on operating cash flow for the next two year-ends, because those are the years an offer document will show.

  3. 03

    Top five customers' share rose every period

    The top five customers gave 69.74% of sales in FY23, 70.34% in FY24, 76.13% in FY25 and 78.23% in the nine months to December 2025, while revenue from operations grew from Rs 182.74 crore to Rs 313.78 crore between FY23 and FY25. Uttar Pradesh gave 72.25% of FY25 sales.

    How an investor reads it. A rising top five share during fast growth tells an investor that most of the new revenue came from existing large accounts, and the state table adds a second, geographic layer of concentration.

    In your company: report top 1, top 5 and top 10 customer shares and your largest state's share every year, and track revenue from customers added in the last two years as its own line.

  4. 04

    Borrowings grew faster than net worth

    Borrowings rose 3.3 times, from Rs 73.65 crore (March 2023) to Rs 243.85 crore (December 2025), while net worth rose 1.8 times, from Rs 127.37 crore to Rs 229.16 crore, taking the debt to equity KPI from 0.58 to 1.06. On the investor presentation's figures, EBITDA covered finance cost 8.9 times in FY23 (Rs 33.70 crore against Rs 3.80 crore) and 4.7 times in FY25 (Rs 70.55 crore against Rs 14.91 crore). On our arithmetic, the Rs 90 crore set for repaying borrowings is about 37% of the December 2025 total.

    How an investor reads it. Interest cover shows how much room profit leaves after lenders are paid, and the size of the repayment object tells an investor how far the IPO resets it.

    In your company: track interest cover every year and size any repayment object from a loan-wise schedule that shows the interest saved.

Use it in your company

Three things to do before your own filing.

  1. Clear guarantees given for other entitiesThe DRHP listed a corporate guarantee of Rs 10.60 crore given for POCT Science House Private Limited at each of March 2023, 2024 and 2025, within total contingent liabilities of Rs 19.30 crore at March 2025 (about 10% of net worth of Rs 189.95 crore, on our arithmetic). In your company: list every guarantee given for a group or promoter entity, with its purpose and expiry, and decide well before the restated period whether each continues.
  2. Split own-make and traded revenueManufactured instruments went from nil in FY23 to 52.09% of instrument revenue in FY25, and the document showed the split for every period. In your company: tag every sale as own-make or traded in your accounts, so a shift towards manufacturing shows in your own numbers.
  3. Fit a pre-IPO round into the objectsThe Rs 27.44 crore pre-IPO placement was applied to working capital, the fresh issue was reduced to match, and the working capital object moved from Rs 110 crore in the DRHP to Rs 93.50 crore in the RHP. In your company: if you raise a pre-IPO round, say which object it funds so the uses add up across both raises.

How the document presented it

  • Revenue split by product typeThe document showed revenue from reagents, instruments, consumables and spares, and service contracts separately for every period.
  • A recent nine-month stub periodRestated figures to 31 December 2025 were added beside the three full years, clearly marked as not annualised.
  • Leverage placed among the KPIsThe KPI table (key performance indicators) put debt to equity and RoCE (return on capital employed) beside EBITDA and profit margins, so leverage was visible in the same table as growth.

The offer document put weight on the company's own manufacturing of reagents and clinical chemistry analysers alongside imported and traded equipment, and on its reach to diagnostic labs, hospitals and medical colleges. It reported EBITDA margin for each period, from 18.05% in FY23 to 27.64% in the nine months to December 2025, and linked the issue proceeds directly to repaying debt and funding working capital.

Sources: Draft Red Herring Prospectus of Q-Line Biotech Limited dated 30 September 2025 (summary section, including contingent liabilities), from Hem Securities (hemsecurities.com) and NSE archives. Red Herring Prospectus dated 16 May 2026, Abridged Prospectus dated 16 May 2026 and Prospectus dated 26 May 2026, accessed from the offer documents page of Book Running Lead Manager Hem Securities Limited (hemsecurities.com); Share India Capital Services Private Limited was the other Book Running Lead Manager. Company filings with NSE (nsearchives.nseindia.com): investor presentation dated 22 June 2026 (restated FY23 and FY24 profit and loss and balance sheets) and audited financial results for the year ended 31 March 2026, filed 1 July 2026 (FY25 interest cover inputs). Listing on NSE Emerge on 29 May 2026 was located through press and IPO tracker reports (askfuzz.ai, gmpipowatch.in) because the NSE website could not be accessed directly for this review. Screener.in was used only to locate the associate income, which was then confirmed in the company's NSE filing.

This review is general commentary for promoters on how a company's offer document presented its business. It is not a research report, not investment advice and not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security. Mansukhbhai (Manshukhbhai Management Services Pvt. Ltd.) is not registered with SEBI as a research analyst or investment adviser. Company names are used only to identify the issuer; no connection with, or endorsement by, the company is implied.

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