Adcounty Media India Limited

Communication Services — Advertising Agencies · BSE

₹88.00−₹1.79 (−1.99%)

DalalBaazaar Score

68 / 100

🟢 Good

Verdict

NEUTRAL

Risk

Very High

Driven by high debt relative to equity, negative free cash flow, micro-cap size, which brings thin liquidity.

In simple words: Strong business and financial position, though profits are falling even as sales grow. Debt is the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:45 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

The 60-second version of Adcounty Media India Limited — what it does, how it earns, and who it competes with, before any of the numbers below.

What does this company do?

Adcounty Media India Limited engages in the programmatic advertising, performance marketing, connected TV (CTV) ads, digital solutions in India.

IndustryAdvertising Agencies

SectorCommunication Services

Employees86

Annual revenue₹86 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹86 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹24 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹32 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 86 employees supports ₹1.00 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹1.00 Cr

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are BHARTI AIRTEL LIMITED, VODAFONE IDEA LIMITED. These are the companies its valuation and returns are measured against elsewhere in this report.

Compared side by side in Peers ↓

What is its competitive advantage?The numbers suggest a real one

ROCE has stayed above 15% in every year available and stands at 25.1%. Returns that high normally get competed away; when they persist, something is protecting them, and its ROE of 18.9% against a peer median of 20.2% is consistent with that. What that something is — brand, scale, switching costs, regulation — the accounts cannot tell you.

Peer median ROE20.2%

What has been driving growth?

Sales and margins have both contributed to where profit is now. Over 3 years revenue moved +61% while net margin moved +65% relative to itself. What this cannot tell you is which products, customers or geographies did the work — that lives in the segment disclosures of the annual report.

Revenue effect+61%

Margin effect+65%

DalalBaazaar Score

68/ 100

Good

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Micro Cap: thinner liquidity and sharper drawdowns are normal
✗ High leverage magnifies any downturn in earnings
✗ Negative free cash flow means dependence on external funding

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

72/ 100

Good

How good the business is, ignoring the share price entirely.

Valuation

86/ 100

Cheap

What you are being asked to pay, ignoring how good the business is.

A good business currently available at an undemanding price — the combination this framework is built to look for.

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

9.3x

1.4Y Median

18.1x

17 monthly readings · mean 20.6x · range 8.3x–41.8x

Sector Median

21.7x

median of 2 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 49% below its 1.4y median of 18.1x. Cheaper than its own history, which is worth a reason too: the market may be pricing in something the backward-looking numbers do not show.

🟢Against its sector it trades 57% below the peer median of 21.7x.

vs. its own history

Cheap

18.1x median over 17 months · -49%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

21.7x median of 2 peers · -57%

vs. generic bands

Cheap

Below 15x

EV/EBITDA

6.7x

PEG

0.24

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well3

Margins are improving
EBITDA margin is up from 19.5% to 32.0% over 3 years.
High return on capital employed
ROCE of 25.1% is the mark of a business that converts capital into profit efficiently.
Consistently profitable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years.

🔴 What Needs Attention2

Return on equity is falling
ROE has dropped from 64.1% to 18.9% — each rupee of shareholder capital earns less than it did.
Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from 83.5% to 25.1% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.

Red Flags

5 items require attention · 4 high · 1 watch

🔴Debt has risen sharplyFinancial
Total debt is up 843% over 3 years, from ₹0 Cr to ₹3 Cr.
🔴High leverageFinancial
Debt/Equity of 2.54x — earnings must service borrowings before shareholders see anything.
🔴Profit up while operating cash flow fallsFinancial
Reported profit rose but cash generated by operations declined — worth checking whether earnings are being supported by non-cash items or working capital.
🔴Receivables growing faster than salesFinancial
Receivables up 232% against revenue up 61% — sales are being booked faster than they are collected.
🟡Free cash flow is negativeFinancial
Free cash flow was -₹28 Cr in the latest year.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Capital compounds at a high rate
ROCE of 25.1% means each rupee reinvested earns well above what capital costs. If the company can keep deploying at this rate, growth creates value rather than just consuming cash.
Margin expansion has further to run
EBITDA margin has risen from 19.5% to 32.0%. If that holds, profit compounds faster than sales and today's multiple looks cheaper in hindsight than it does now.
Priced below its own history
The stock trades 49% below its own median multiple. If the business performs as it has and simply re-rates back to normal, that gap is return on its own.
Cheaper than its peers
It trades 57% below the sector median. Either the market sees a problem the numbers do not show, or the discount closes.
Earnings have proved durable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years. Consistency lowers the risk that any single bad year is structural rather than cyclical.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

Leverage amplifies any setback
Debt/Equity of 2.54x. Interest is payable whether or not the business has a good year.
Sales are being booked faster than collected
Receivables are up 232% against revenue up 61%. If customers keep taking longer to pay, reported profit will not turn into cash — and write-offs follow if some never do.
Returns on shareholder capital are falling
ROE has dropped from 64.1% to 18.9%. Each rupee of equity earns less than it did, so profit growth increasingly depends on raising more capital rather than on the existing base working harder.
Size brings its own risk
Micro Cap businesses are thinly traded, so exits are harder in a falling market and single events move the price more than they would for a larger company.
Several serious flags at once
4 high-severity checks triggered. Individually each has an explanation; together they raise the chance that something structural is wrong rather than a one-off.

🟡 Key Things to WatchMeasurable tripwires, set against where this company stands today

1Revenue growth stays above 13% a year✓ 17.1% CAGR
Latest reported year was 48.2%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above 30%✓ 32.0%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹28 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 0.1x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
5ROCE stays above 22%✓ 25.1%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

7 / 11 checks passed

✓ Strong return on equity (ROE ≥ 15%)
✓ Strong return on capital employed (ROCE ≥ 15%)
✓ Healthy net margin (≥ 10%)
✗ Generates positive free cash flow
✗ Manageable leverage (Debt/Equity < 1.0)
✓ Adequate short-term liquidity (Current Ratio ≥ 1.0)
✓ Revenue growing year-over-year
✗ Profit growing year-over-year
✓ Not trading at an extreme valuation (P/E < 40x)
✓ Not buying right at the 52-week high
✗ Short-term technical trend isn't bearish

Price history

Quick Metrics

5 good · 3 neutral · 3 weak

Market Cap

₹198 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

9.3x

Cheap

Cheap against the generic band

P/B Ratio

1.85x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹9.48

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

18.9%

Strong

Strong capital efficiency

ROCE

25.1%

Strong

Earns comfortably above its likely cost of capital

Debt/Equity

2.54x

High

High leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

48.2%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

-8.1%

Falling

Profits are shrinking

Dividend Yield

None

No dividend yield reported — usually means no payout, but verify if one was recently initiated

Free Cash Flow

-₹28 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

Operating Margin

25.2%

Good

Healthy core-business profitability

Net Margin

22.6%

Good

Strong bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

7.98

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

52W Range Position

11%

Near low

Near its 52-week low

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

81.2 / 83.8

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

60.9

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹54 Cr	₹43 Cr	₹69 Cr	₹86 Cr	+17.1%
EBITDA	₹10 Cr	₹11 Cr	₹19 Cr	₹28 Cr	+38.3%
EBITDA Margin	19.5%	26.4%	27.3%	32.0%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹8 Cr	₹8 Cr	₹14 Cr	₹20 Cr	+38.4%
EPS	₹3.39	₹3.68	₹6.11	₹9.65	+41.7%
ROE	64.1%	40.9%	36.3%	18.9%	—
ROCE	83.5%	54.3%	47.1%	25.1%	—
Total Debt	₹0 Cr	—	₹1 Cr	₹3 Cr	+111.2%
Free Cash Flow	₹1 Cr	₹4 Cr	-₹3 Cr	-₹28 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 17.1% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 38.3% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from 19.5% to 32.0% over 3 years (+12.5 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 38.4% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EPS has grown at 41.7% a year over 3 years.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 64.1% to 18.9% over 3 years (-45.1 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 83.5% to 25.1% over 3 years (-58.4 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 111.2% a year over 3 years.

🔴 Free Cash Flow has turned negative, from ₹1 Cr to -₹28 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹118 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹11 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹17 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

-₹11 Cr

Capex

-₹17 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

74.8%

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
BHARTI AIRTEL LIMITED	39.8x	20.2%
VODAFONE IDEA LIMITED	3.6x	—

Recent News

2 positive4 general

ADCOUNTY MEDIA INDIA LIMITED Share Price

Upstox, 05 May

Adcounty Media India Ltd Upgraded to Hold as Technicals Improve Amid Mixed Financials

MarketsMojo, 13 OctAnalyst view

🟢Potentially positiveAn analyst opinion changing, which moves the price without changing the business.

Ashish Kacholia picks up 2.9% stake in smallcap Adcounty Media. Stock down 60% from peak

The Economic Times, 07 Jan

Adcounty Media India consolidated net profit rises 25.37% in the June 2026 quarter

Business Standard, 11 AugResults

🟢Potentially positiveReported improvement. Check whether it came from volume, price or a one-off item before treating it as a trend.

ADCOUNTY MEDIA INDIA LIMITED Share Price Near 52-Week Low

Univest, 14 Aug

AdCounty Media acquires Adaxx stake for ₹10 crore to boost AdTech

scanx.trade, 08 Sept

Watch Items

Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongBusiness Quality · Growth · Profitability · Valuation

MiddlingFinancial Health

WeakRisk

Points for each in the Score ↑

Attractive on both counts

A good business currently available at an undemanding price — the combination this framework exists to look for. The work left is qualitative: whether the advantage the numbers imply is one you can identify and expect to last. 4 high-severity red flags sit above this conclusion and should be read first.

1 of 5 tripwires tripped — Free cash flow remains positive · see Key things to watch ↑