Universal Corp key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2026, Universal Corp had return on equity of 2.3%, an operating margin of 5.8%, debt equal to 63.9% of equity and a current ratio of 3.49. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.

Financial ratios

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal years, plus the last twelve months (LTM) when newer.

Universal Corp: financial ratios, annual
Fiscal year	2010Mar 2010	2011Mar 2011	2012Mar 2012	2013Mar 2013	2014Mar 2014	2015Mar 2015	2016Mar 2016	2017Mar 2017	2018Mar 2018	2019Mar 2019	2020Mar 2020	2021Mar 2021	2022Mar 2022	2023Mar 2023	2024Mar 2024	2025Mar 2025	2026Mar 2026	LTMJun 2026
Gross margin	—	19.8%	19.3%	18.8%	17.0%	18.1%	19.2%	18.1%	17.7%	17.7%	17.9%	18.7%	19.0%	17.2%	18.7%	17.9%	16.4%	15.6%
Operating margin	10.3%	9.9%	7.4%	9.1%	9.7%	7.4%	8.6%	8.7%	8.5%	7.3%	6.7%	7.5%	7.7%	7.1%	8.2%	8.0%	5.8%	4.9%
Net margin	6.8%	6.1%	3.8%	5.4%	5.9%	5.0%	5.1%	5.2%	5.2%	4.7%	3.8%	4.4%	4.1%	4.9%	4.4%	3.3%	1.1%	0.7%
Free-cash-flow margin	4.2%	0.6%	6.6%	8.3%	−1.9%	7.4%	6.6%	10.5%	2.3%	5.7%	−1.3%	7.8%	−0.4%	−2.6%	−5.2%	9.0%	2.8%	5.8%
Return on equity	15.0%	13.6%	7.8%	10.9%	11.3%	8.4%	7.9%	7.9%	8.0%	7.8%	5.5%	6.8%	6.5%	9.1%	8.4%	6.6%	2.3%	1.4%
Return on assets	7.1%	6.8%	4.1%	5.8%	6.5%	5.1%	4.9%	4.9%	4.9%	4.8%	3.4%	3.9%	3.5%	4.7%	4.3%	3.2%	1.1%	0.7%
Asset turnover	1.05	1.12	1.09	1.08	1.11	1.02	0.96	0.94	0.94	1.03	0.89	0.88	0.85	0.98	0.98	0.99	1.00	0.97
Current ratio	2.75	3.08	4.31	2.80	3.68	5.96	6.65	5.83	5.94	6.26	5.53	5.31	3.37	4.08	2.96	2.87	3.49	2.57
Debt to equity	54.1%	47.6%	45.4%	39.6%	30.4%	31.5%	30.8%	33.4%	30.9%	31.7%	35.8%	47.4%	52.3%	58.1%	72.0%	73.6%	63.9%	85.2%
Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest)	10.6x	11.0x	7.9x	10.1x	12.1x	9.8x	11.6x	11.0x	10.9x	9.2x	6.4x	5.9x	5.8x	3.7x	3.3x	2.9x	2.3x	1.9x
Effective tax rate	33.6%	32.3%	37.8%	32.0%	32.7%	24.0%	31.5%	33.5%	30.3%	27.2%	31.1%	23.4%	27.2%	8.3%	19.0%	26.6%	45.5%	—
SG&A as % of revenue	11.4%	10.1%	10.3%	9.6%	10.3%	11.0%	10.7%	10.4%	10.0%	10.2%	11.8%	11.2%	11.5%	10.9%	11.4%	10.4%	10.4%	10.7%
Capital spending as % of revenue	2.3%	1.5%	1.6%	1.3%	1.8%	2.6%	2.2%	1.7%	1.7%	1.8%	1.9%	3.4%	2.5%	2.1%	2.4%	2.1%	1.7%	1.9%
Free cash flow ÷ net income	62.1%	9.6%	175.6%	153.4%	−33.1%	147.5%	127.9%	202.0%	44.7%	120.8%	−33.9%	176.5%	−9.6%	−52.6%	−117.6%	278.1%	246.0%	859.6%
Dividends ÷ net income	27.2%	28.9%	48.6%	34.6%	31.4%	41.3%	43.5%	46.9%	51.8%	67.1%	105.1%	86.0%	88.3%	62.4%	65.6%	83.8%	249.1%	427.3%
Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow	74.6%	611.4%	30.1%	26.7%	—	46.5%	34.0%	23.2%	161.6%	56.7%	—	48.7%	—	—	—	30.1%	101.3%	49.7%

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal quarters.

Universal Corp: financial ratios, quarterly
Quarter	2025 Q2Sept 2024	2025 Q3Dec 2024	2025 Q4Mar 2025	2026 Q1Jun 2025	2026 Q2Sept 2025	2026 Q3Dec 2025	2026 Q4Mar 2026	2027 Q1Jun 2026
Gross margin	19.9%	19.9%	15.1%	19.1%	18.0%	17.8%	10.6%	15.3%
Operating margin	9.7%	11.2%	6.2%	5.7%	9.0%	9.6%	−2.2%	0.4%
Net margin	3.7%	6.4%	1.4%	1.4%	4.6%	3.9%	−6.3%	−1.0%
Free-cash-flow margin	−0.1%	21.5%	21.9%	−36.6%	3.2%	11.1%	25.9%	−25.6%
Current ratio	2.60	2.70	2.87	2.49	2.70	2.91	3.49	2.57
Debt to equity	43.5%	42.6%	42.4%	42.4%	42.1%	41.6%	43.6%	85.2%
SG&A as % of revenue	9.0%	9.6%	10.6%	13.4%	9.6%	9.0%	10.5%	15.5%

Returns use average equity or assets over the year. Return on equity is left blank when equity is negative or so small that the ratio says nothing (above ±200%); interest cover is left blank above 200 times. Price-based ratios such as P/E are on the valuation page.

Financial health

2 of 7 checks passed · June 30, 2026

What it owns · $3.0bn

Short-term assets $2.2bnLonger-term assets $796m

What it owes, and who funded it · $3.0bn

Short-term liabilities $871mLonger-term liabilities $742mShareholders' equity $1.4bn

Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $2.2bn of assets due within a year against $871m of liabilities due within a year.
Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities $2.2bn short-term assets against $742m of longer-dated liabilities.
More cash than debt $174m of cash against $1.2bn of debt.
Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 85% of equity.
Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 39% to 85% over five years.
A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $217m of operating cash flow against $1.2bn of debt.
Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $137m against $73m of interest.

From Universal Corp's latest balance sheet as filed. Checks are fixed, documented rules (methodology), counted only where the company reports the figures — a dot means the filing doesn't break the item out. Descriptions of reported data, not advice.

Moat

51 /100

Moderate moat

How hard Universal's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.

Returns on capital 8 / 20

Cash operating profit has been a median 7.3% of total assets over 10 years.
Pricing power 8 / 20

Gross margin has been a median 18.5%, moving by 1.1 percentage points (standard deviation) across 10 years.
Durability 10 / 20

Operating margin has been a median 7.5%; its worst year was 4.9%.
Cash conversion 9 / 20

Free cash flow was positive in 7 of 10 years, at a median 3.0% of revenue.
Discipline 16 / 20

The diluted share count rose 1.3% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 0.3% of revenue.

AI disruption exposure: Low. In this industry, the business rests on physical assets, regulated networks or products AI itself depends on.

A rules-based reading of reported figures, not a forecast and not investment advice. How the score is built: methodology.

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Figures from Universal Corp's SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 26, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to Universal Corp.