Core4 Engineers IPO

Core4 Engineers Limitedcore4engineers.com

ListedSMEIndustrialsBSE SME

Price band: ₹88 – ₹93
Issue size: ₹54.82 Cr
Lot size: 1200 sh
Bidding: 23 – 27 Oct
Grey market: —

Market data to 30 Oct 2026. Company figures are as filed, sourced 29 Oct 2026. Every figure’s origin is listed under Sources.

The question this issue poses

In one sentence

Core4 Engineers comes to BSE SME after a single year in which revenue nearly tripled to ₹91.34 Cr on a pivot from railway work into sub-contracted water and wastewater projects, so the question at ₹88–₹93 is whether that growth turns into cash - operating cash flow has been negative in every period presented, and receivables at June 2026 exceeded the whole of FY26's revenue.

IPOVista score

How this issue scores, and why

Every pillar opens to show the raw metric, the curve it was mapped through, the sub-score and its weight. Disagree with the weighting if you like — the arithmetic is all here.

72Strong

IPOVista score

Broadly well-balanced

82% of the scoring model was backed by disclosed data for Core4 Engineers, giving medium confidence. Weights for anything missing were redistributed rather than scored as zero.

How this score is built

PillarScoreWeight

Below the line: market sentiment. Capped at 8 of 100 points so a hot grey market can tilt a score but never carry one.

Read this before the number

Priced above its peer group
The upper band asks a 291.7% premium to the median P/E of the listed peers named in the prospectus.
SME platform listing
SME issues trade in larger lot sizes with thinner volumes than mainboard listings, which makes exiting a position harder.

The IPOVista Score is a transparent summary of disclosed fundamentals and issue terms. It is research, not investment advice, and it cannot predict listing performance.

The company

What the business actually does

Founded 2014 · Mysuru, Karnataka

Core4 Engineers is a Mysuru-based engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) contractor. It started as a partnership firm in 2014, became a private company in February 2022 and a public company in April 2025. It executes railway electrification and station infrastructure works - foot-over bridges, platform extensions, traction and distribution substations - along with extra-high-tension transmission and distribution, SCADA and automation systems, and, increasingly, water and wastewater projects such as sewage and water treatment plants, pumping stations and pipelines. A subsidiary, Core4 Energy, makes HT and LT electrical panels, control and relay panels, PLC and SCADA panels and compact substations at Hootagalli Industrial Area in Mysuru, both for the company's own projects and for outside customers. At 30 June 2026 it had 32 projects in progress, and a workforce of 62 employees on its payroll plus 400 floating labourers engaged for project execution.

Project contracting, paid on milestones and certification. Revenue from operations was ₹33.45 Cr in FY24 and ₹34.16 Cr in FY25, then jumped to ₹91.34 Cr in FY26 and ₹45.65 Cr in the June 2026 quarter alone. The jump came from a change of business rather than more of the same: water and wastewater EPCC went from ₹8.67 Cr of revenue in FY25 to ₹59.83 Cr in FY26 and ₹39.29 Cr in the June 2026 quarter - 87.07% of service revenue that quarter - and the RHP says a significant portion of it was executed as a sub-contractor to private EPC contractors rather than for government authorities directly. Railway electrification and infrastructure, which was 60.46% of service revenue in FY24, fell to 10.14% in the June 2026 quarter. Margins improved with scale - the disclosed EBITDA margin was 14.82% in FY24 and 20.04% in FY26 - but the work is paid slowly: trade receivables rose from ₹7.59 Cr at March 2024 to ₹75.45 Cr at March 2026 and ₹101.54 Cr at June 2026, operating cash flow was negative in every period presented, and the gap is funded with short-term bank borrowings. A single customer supplied 42.31% of FY26 revenue.

What makes it hard to copy

In-house manufacturing behind the contracting: the company's subsidiary builds the HT/LT panels, SCADA panels and compact substations its projects need, which the RHP presents as a cost advantage, alongside in-house testing and a multi-disciplinary execution team spanning railway, power and water works.

Where the revenue comes from

Share of revenue by business line, latest full year

Water and Wastewater Treatment EPCC65.5%
Railway Electrification and Infrastructure27.1%
Products (Core4 Energy panels and substations)3.2%
Automation and SCADA Systems2.4%
Other (1)1.8%

Hover or focus a segment for its share and what it covers.

Where it operates

Manufacturing units1
Hootagalli Industrial Area, Mysuru, Karnataka (panels and compact substations, via Core4 Energy)
Registered and corporate office1
Kuvempunagar, Mysuru, Karnataka

Markets served

India

Who runs it

Hosahalli Appagigowda SavithaChairman and Executive Director · since 2022Promoter. Director since incorporation of the company.
Agrahara Chamaraje Gowda AbhinandanManaging Director · since 2022Promoter. Director since incorporation of the company.
Mahadevappa TejusWhole-time DirectorPromoter.
AnalaNon-Executive Director · since 2025Promoter. Director since 15 October 2025.
Kikkeri Putte Gowda JayaramuIndependent Director
Mysore Govindaraju YashwanthkumarIndependent Director
Vinodkumar SiddappaChief Financial Officer
Theja RajuCompany Secretary and Compliance Officer

The company on paper

Legal name: Core4 Engineers Limited
IncorporatedThe legal entity is often incorporated years before the brand you know, and may have traded under another name first: 3 Feb 2022trading as Core4 Engineers since 2014
CINCorporate Identity Number — the unambiguous handle for looking this company up at the MCA: U45309KA2022PLC157463
Sector: Industrials · EPCC contracting - water and wastewater, railway electrification, power distribution
Registered office: Mathrushree No. 12, 1st Floor, Near Ramana Maharshi Gyana Kendra, Next to New Court, K Block, Kuvempunagar, Mysore 570023, Karnataka
Statutory auditorWho signed the restated financial information: L U Krishnan & Co., Chartered Accountants
Promoters: Agrahara Chamaraje Gowda Abhinandan, Hosahalli Appagigowda Savitha, Mahadevappa Tejus, Anala
Promoter holding, pre-issue: 82.1%
Website: core4engineers.com

The numbers

Financial performance

Revenue has compounded at 65.2% a year across the 3 reported financial years.

Revenue and profit

Figures in ₹ crore, as reported in the prospectus. Interim quarters are not annualised.

Revenue
Profit after tax

Margin trend

Profit and operating margin as a percentage of revenue

Net margin
EBITDA margin

Net worth and borrowings

At each period end, in ₹ crore. Gearing below each period is borrowings over net worth, from these same figures.

Net worth
Total borrowings

Profit against cash generated

Profit after tax and net cash from operating activities, in ₹ crore. The figure under each period is cash generated per ₹100 of profit.

Profit after tax
Operating cash flow

Above 100% the business collects more cash than it books as profit. Persistently below it, growth is being funded out of working capital.

The price

Valuation

At the upper band this issue asks a 291.7% premium to the median P/E of the listed peers its own prospectus names.

P/E at the band, post-issue

14.7× – 15.6×

Always post-issue, so issues stay comparable with each other

Median P/E of its named peers

4.0×

1 listed company the prospectus names itself

What you pay

Earnings and sales behind one share, and the multiple the band asks for them.

EPS, pre-issue (FY26): ₹8.36
EPS, post-issueNot disclosed, so computed from FY26 profit after tax and the disclosed share count — this is the figure the multiple above is built on: ₹5.98
Price / sales: —
Net asset value per shareBook value behind one share — a floor, not a target: ₹21.01

What it earns on what it has

Returns and margins on FY26. These are the figures that say whether the multiple above is deserved.

Return on net worthAs disclosed in the prospectus, on its own formula — Indian issuers define RoNW on average net worth, not closing.: 39.8%
Return on capital employed: 37.8%
EBITDA margin: 20.0%
Net margin: 13.5%

What it owes

Gearing at the latest balance-sheet date.

Debt to equityAs disclosed in the prospectus. Issuers divide by total equity, which includes non-controlling interests — a wider base than the net worth used for RoNW.: 1.02×

Valuation against listed peers

P/E against operating margin

The peer table does not carry both a P/E and an operating margin for enough companies to plot.

The terms

How the issue is structured

Fresh issueNew shares — proceeds go to the company: —
Offer for saleExisting shares — proceeds go to the selling shareholders: —
Total issue size: ₹54.82 Cr
Shares offered in the OFS: None — this is a fresh issue only
Pre-issue shares outstanding: 1,47,88,845
Employee discount: —
Market maker portionSME issues require a market maker to provide two-way quotes: 7,20,000

Who the shares are reserved for

Share of the net offer set aside for each investor category

Select a category to see who bids in it and how allotment works there.

Percentages are of the net offer, which excludes any employee or shareholder reservation, and the 7,20,000 shares reserved for the market maker.

Use of proceeds

Stated objects of the fresh issue, largest first

General corporate purposes, capped at 15% of gross proceeds or ₹10 Cr, whichever is lower — amount not quantified in the prospectus

Hover or focus an object to see whether that spending grows the business or repairs the balance sheet.

100% of the quantified proceeds is earmarked for growth; the rest repairs the balance sheet or is unallocated.

Demand

What the market is bidding

Subscription is hard exchange data. Grey-market premium is not — it is an unofficial quote, shown because readers want it and labelled because it deserves the label.

Subscription by category

Cumulative bid multiples at the end of day 3. Anchor allocations are excluded.

Hover or focus a category to see who bids in it.

Total subscription5.44×

A category subscribed above 1× is oversubscribed; allotment in that category then runs as a lottery or on a proportionate basis. This issue’s book is not read from an exchange. It lists only on BSE, whose demand schedule refuses automated requests, so these multiples come from a third-party tracker. Every figure is re-derived from this issue’s own category split before it is published and refused if it does not reconcile — which makes it safe to publish, not official. Treat it as one step less firm than the rest of this page.

Anchor book

Anchor investors commit one working day before the issue opens and are locked in for 30 and 90 days. Who turns up here is the first real signal of institutional appetite.

Raised from anchors: ₹14.36 Cr
Anchor investors: 5
50% lock-in ends: 27 Nov 2026
Remaining lock-in ends: 26 Jan 2027

Lock-in dates are counted from the allotment date under SEBI’s 30- and 90-day anchor rule, not quoted from a filing.

Notable participants

Vikasa India EIF I Fund – Incube Global OpportunitiesLRSD CapitalShine Star Build CSDEvergrow Capital Opportunities FundTeal Rise Fund I

Grey market premium

Unofficial over-the-counter sentiment

No grey-market quotes have been recorded for this issue.

Outcome

How it actually listed

Issue price: ₹93.00
Listed at: ₹74.40
Listing gain: down 20.0%
Since listing: up 5.0%
Against the issue price: down 16.0%

Work it out

What this means for one application

Three calculations, each stating the assumption it rests on.

What one application costs

Shares are applied for in whole lots at the cut-off price. The full amount is blocked in your bank account under ASBA, not debited, until allotment.

Lots

Shares applied for: 2,400
At cut-off price: ₹93.00
Amount blocked: ₹2,23,200

One lot is 1200 shares at ₹1,11,600. This issue requires a minimum of 2 lots, so the smallest application is ₹2,23,200. That is how the SME board is built rather than a quirk of this issue: the minimum application is set above the ₹2,00,000 that caps a retail bid on the mainboard — two lots rather than one. The smallest bid here still sits in the individual investors’ category, the one the subscription figures call retail, and when that category is oversubscribed the minimum application is allotted by draw of lots — so the odds beside this apply directly.

Odds of getting an allotment

When the retail category is oversubscribed, SEBI requires a lottery for the minimum lot. Every application has the same chance, whatever its size.

~37%

chance of one lot, per application

Retail subscription: 2.72×
Applicants per share available: 2.7× the retail quota

This is an estimate of a lottery, not a prediction. Actual odds depend on the final basis of allotment, how many applications were at the minimum lot, and rejections for technical reasons. Applying from multiple distinct PANs is the only legitimate way to hold more tickets in that lottery.

What it actually did

This issue has listed, so there is a real number instead of a prediction. The grey-market premium is shown beside it for comparison.

₹74.40

listed at, −20.0% against the issue price

Issue price: ₹93.00
Premium said: —
If allotted 1200 shares: −₹22,320

Listing-day figures are as reported by the exchanges.

Our read

The case for and against

Grounded only in figures disclosed in the prospectus. This is analysis, not a recommendation.

What works

Rapid growth: revenue from operations went from ₹34.16 Cr in FY25 to ₹91.34 Cr in FY26, and the June 2026 quarter alone produced ₹45.65 Cr, half of the previous full year.
Margins widened with scale - the year delivered a 20.04% EBITDA margin in FY26 against 14.82% in FY24 - and profit after tax rose from ₹2.89 Cr in FY24 to ₹3.81 Cr in FY25 and ₹12.37 Cr in FY26.
Disclosed returns are high on a small equity base: return on net worth of 39.81% and return on capital employed of 37.78% for FY26.
Work in hand broadened: projects in progress rose from 10 at March 2024 and 16 at March 2025 to 40 at March 2026, with 32 at June 2026.
The in-house panel and compact-substation unit run by subsidiary Core4 Energy supplies the company's own projects and began earning third-party product revenue of ₹2.90 Cr in FY26.
The issue is entirely fresh capital, and ₹40.48 Cr of it is earmarked for working capital - the constraint that has kept operating cash flow negative.

What to weigh against it

Operating cash flow has been negative in every period presented: minus ₹13.36 Cr in FY24, minus ₹8.59 Cr in FY25, minus ₹10.81 Cr in FY26 and minus ₹8.32 Cr in the June 2026 quarter. Profit has not been converting into cash.
Receivables have run far ahead of revenue: trade receivables were ₹7.59 Cr at March 2024, ₹36.19 Cr at March 2025, ₹75.45 Cr at March 2026 and ₹101.54 Cr at June 2026, and the disclosed receivable days were 223 in FY26 and 234 in FY25.
Concentration is extreme and rising: the largest customer was 42.31% of FY26 revenue, the top five 85.49% and the top ten 93.90% of revenue in the June 2026 quarter. None is named.
The growth sits in a segment the company is new to. Water and wastewater was 25.38% or less of service revenue in FY24 and FY25 and 87.07% in the June 2026 quarter, and the RHP says much of it was done as a sub-contractor, so payment depends on the main contractor being paid first.
Leverage rose with the growth: total borrowings went from ₹16.75 Cr at March 2024 to ₹31.58 Cr at March 2026 and ₹40.57 Cr at June 2026, mostly short-term, and the disclosed debt-equity ratio was 1.09 at June 2026.
The previous auditor qualified the FY24 accounts because the partnership firm Core4 Engineers kept transacting after its conversion into a company in February 2022 and had not been dissolved; the company says it is still completing the formalities.
Short-term provisions climbed from ₹0.81 Cr at March 2024 to ₹17.73 Cr at March 2026 and ₹32.32 Cr at June 2026, and contingent liabilities at June 2026 included ₹6.58 Cr of bank guarantees.
As an SME listing it will trade in a thin market with a market maker holding a 7,20,000-share reservation.

Easy to miss in the prospectus

The price band, the issue size in rupees, the minimum bid lot and the P/E are all blank here. The RHP prints them as placeholders, and BSE SME's public-issues list, the source for this record's dates, shows no price for the issue while it is open. Third-party sites quote a band and lot size; none of those figures is used.
Post-issue capital is stated in the RHP as up to 2,06,83,245 shares - the 1,47,88,845 shares outstanding plus the 58,94,400 offered - so that count is filled in; the post-issue promoter percentage is a placeholder and is left blank.
Two EPS series appear in the RHP. The summary profit and loss table shows ₹13.28 for FY25 and ₹10.31 for FY24; the basis for issue price shows ₹2.59 and ₹1.97, restated for the bonus issue after March 2025. FY26 is ₹8.36 in both. The bonus-adjusted figures are the comparable ones.
Return on net worth of 39.81% is the issuer's figure on CLOSING net worth. The company separately discloses return on equity on average equity of 49.70% for FY26.
The RHP's sole listed peer, K2 Infragen, is shown at a P/E of 3.97 in the comparison table, which is what its ₹41.85 closing price and ₹10.53 EPS give; the industry P/E summary above it states 4.07. This record uses 3.97.
Segment shares here are of total revenue from operations, computed from the RHP's service-revenue table and product revenue; the RHP itself states them as shares of service revenue.
The capex object - ₹4.12 Cr to buy land and a building for a new manufacturing facility and corporate office - is a small part of the use of proceeds; the working capital object of ₹40.48 Cr dominates it.
The anchor book was scheduled for 22 October 2026, the day before bidding opened; no anchor allocation is recorded here because none was found in a primary source.

Straight from the filing

Read it yourself

Every figure on this page comes out of these. Go and check them.

Core4 Engineers — Red Herring Prospectus dated 2026-10-16 (BSE, zipped with the general information document)16 Oct 2026The document the issue was bid on. Carries the price band and the dates.Opens on bseindia.com · about 10 MB

Served by the issuer, the exchange or the regulator — never a copy hosted here, so what you open is the filing itself.

The paperwork

Who is running the issue

Lead managers: Socradamus Capital Private Limited
RegistrarAllotment status is checked on the registrar's own site: Purva Sharegistry (India) Private Limited

How these figures were checked

Reconciled to Core4 Engineers's own prospectus and to exchange disclosures. Where a stated ratio disagreed with the line items it should come from, the disagreement was settled against the prospectus itself.

The prospectus is the authoritative document. Check anything that matters against it before you act.

At a glance

Board: SME platform
Opens: 23 Oct 2026
Closes: 27 Oct 2026
Allotment: 28 Oct 2026
Lists: 30 Oct 2026
Revenue (FY26): ₹91.34 Cr
Profit (FY26): ₹12.37 Cr

Timeline

Every step in this issue's calendar has passed.

Tap a step for what it means. Dates are as disclosed in the prospectus and can move.

On this page

IPOVista publishes research and data compiled from public filings and exchange disclosures. Nothing here is investment advice, a recommendation, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Figures can contain errors and sources can be stale — verify against the prospectus before you act, and speak to a SEBI-registered adviser. Investing in securities carries risk, including loss of capital.