Bharat Road Network Limited

Industrials — Infrastructure Operations · NSE

₹15.74+₹0.22 (+1.42%)

DalalBaazaar Score

36 / 100

🔴 Weak

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

Very High

Driven by moderate debt load, negative free cash flow, the company is currently loss-making.

In simple words: The company is currently losing money, though profits are falling even as sales grow. Cash generation is currently the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 6:09 pm

Caution warranted. Multiple fundamental metrics — flagged in red below — point to either valuation stretch, leverage risk, or weakening profitability. This doesn't mean avoid the stock outright, but it does mean the burden of proof is on the growth story to justify the current price.

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Bharat Road Network Limited operates as a Build Operate-Transfer (BOT) company that owns, designs, develops, builds, operates, and transfers road and related services in India.

IndustryInfrastructure Operations

SectorIndustrials

Employees36

Annual revenue₹154 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹154 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹-19 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹4 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 36 employees supports ₹4.29 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

EBITDA margin4.2%

Net margin-19.2%

Revenue / employee₹4.29 Cr

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD., ADANI PORT & SEZ LTD. These are the companies its valuation and returns are measured against elsewhere in this report.

LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD.P/E 30.1x · ROE 15.2%

ADANI PORT & SEZ LTDP/E 29.9x · ROE 14.1%

What is its competitive advantage?Little sign of one

Returns on capital of -6.3% are at or below what the capital likely costs. That is the financial pattern of a business competing largely on price, where advantage has to come from execution rather than position.

ROCE-6.3%

ROE-7.4%

Peer median ROE15.2%

What has been driving growth?

Sales and margins have both contributed to where profit is now. Over 3 years revenue moved -53% while net margin moved -70% 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-53%

Margin effect-70%

DalalBaazaar Score

36/ 100

Weak

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Revenue has contracted at 22.1% a year
✗ Profit fell 121.0% in the latest year

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

34/ 100

Weak

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

Valuation

30/ 100

Expensive

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

Weak on business quality and not cheap enough to compensate.

vs. its own history

Not enough price and earnings history

vs. sector peers

Not enough peers with a usable P/E

vs. generic bands

N/A

No P/E — the company is lossmaking

P/E (Trailing)

Not meaningful

P/B

0.19x

EV/EBITDA

67.5x

PEG

—

Dividend Yield

None

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well2

Debt is being paid down
Total debt is down 69% over 3 years.
Return on equity is rising
ROE has improved from -69.3% to -7.4%.

🔴 What Needs Attention3

Margins are compressing
EBITDA margin has slipped from 29.6% to 4.2% over 3 years.
Free cash flow is negative
The business is not currently covering its capital spending from operations.
Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from -2.1% to -6.3% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.

Red Flags

3 items require attention · 2 high · 1 watch

🔴The company is lossmakingFinancial
Net profit of -₹30 Cr in the latest reported year.
🔴Significant margin compressionFinancial
EBITDA margin has fallen 25.4 points, from 29.6% to 4.2%.
🟡Free cash flow is negativeFinancial
Free cash flow was -₹133 Cr in the latest year.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Deleveraging frees up earnings
Debt is down 69% over 3 years. Every rupee of interest not paid drops to the bottom line, so profit can grow even if revenue does not.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

Margins are being competed away
EBITDA margin has fallen from 29.6% to 4.2%. If the trend continues, profit falls even on flat sales — and margin decline rarely reverses quickly.
The debt load needs earnings to hold up
Debt is 66.6x EBITDA. At that level a downturn in earnings turns a manageable balance sheet into a refinancing problem, and lenders get paid before shareholders.
Earnings are hard to forecast
Profit has swung sharply from year to year, so any single year — good or bad — is a weak guide to the next. Cyclical earnings deserve lower multiples for that reason.
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
2 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

1EBITDA margin holds above 2%✓ 4.2%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x✗ 66.6x
Already stretched, so this is a reduction target rather than a level to hold. Around 3x is where lenders typically start attaching conditions.
3Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹133 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4ROCE stays above 8%✗ -6.3%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

5 / 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

1 good · 4 neutral · 6 weak

Market Cap

₹132 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

Not meaningful

Loss-making

Earnings are negative, so a P/E multiple can't be read here

P/B Ratio

0.19x

Reasonable

Reasonable against the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹-19.23

Loss-making

Negative earnings per share — the business is losing money

ROE

-7.4%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

-6.3%

Weak

Low return on total capital employed

Debt/Equity

0.81x

Moderate

Moderate leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

2.5%

Modest

Modest growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

-121.0%

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

-₹133 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

CMP

₹15.74

Operating Margin

-196.9%

Weak

Thin margins leave little room for error

Net Margin

-86.3%

Weak

Very little revenue reaches the bottom line

Current Ratio

1.58

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

-0.11

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

Near low

Near its 52-week low

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

16.1 / 16.7

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

31.4

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹326 Cr	₹380 Cr	₹274 Cr	₹154 Cr	-22.1%
EBITDA	₹97 Cr	₹204 Cr	₹79 Cr	₹7 Cr	-59.3%
EBITDA Margin	29.6%	53.8%	28.9%	4.2%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	-₹210 Cr	-₹112 Cr	₹141 Cr	-₹30 Cr	—
EPS	₹-24.96	₹-13.34	₹16.81	₹-3.53	—
ROE	-69.3%	-58.9%	42.7%	-7.4%	—
ROCE	-2.1%	4.2%	23.3%	-6.3%	—
Total Debt	₹1,413 Cr	₹1,328 Cr	₹434 Cr	₹434 Cr	-32.5%
Free Cash Flow	₹251 Cr	₹160 Cr	₹19 Cr	-₹133 Cr	—

🔴 Revenue has shrunk at 22.1% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA has shrunk at 59.3% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA Margin has fallen from 29.6% to 4.2% over 3 years (-25.4 pts).

🟢 ROE has risen from -69.3% to -7.4% over 3 years (+61.9 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from -2.1% to -6.3% over 3 years (-4.2 pts).

🟢 Total Debt has shrunk at 32.5% a year over 3 years.

🔴 Free Cash Flow has turned negative, from ₹251 Cr to -₹133 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹1,436 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹901 Cr

Total Debt

₹434 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹126 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

-₹126 Cr

Capex

-₹7 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

78.3%

Corporate Actions

Ex-Dividend Date

05 Dec 2019

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD.	30.1x	15.2%
ADANI PORT & SEZ LTD	29.9x	14.1%

Recent News

1 mixed5 general

BRNL Share Price Near Low: Technical and Fundamental View

Univest, 09 Oct

Bharat Road Network’s IPO To Open On September 6

NDTV Profit, 17 Oct

Bharat Road Network AGM adopts FY26 financials amid modified audit opinion

scanx.trade, 30 Sept

Bharat Road Network Ltd. Shareholding Pattern – Promoters, FIIs & DIIs

Value Research, 30 Aug

Bharat Road Network Share Price: Buy or Sell

Univest, 09 Sept

Bharat Road Network Limited Reports Earnings Results for the Fourth Quarter and Full Year Ended March 31, 2026

marketscreener.com, 30 MayResults

🟡Mixed / dependsA results event. The figures on this page update once the new statements reach the data feed, which usually lags the announcement.

Watch Items

Trading very close to its 52-week low — worth checking whether this reflects a temporary setback or a structural problem.
Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

🔴Business QualityWeak4.7/20

🟢Financial HealthStrong13.1/20

🔴GrowthWeak2.4/20

🔴ProfitabilityWeak5/15

🟡ValuationFair7.1/15

🔴RiskHigh4/10

Weak on the fundamentals

Poor scores on business quality without a price low enough to compensate. There is no obvious argument for owning this over a stronger company at a similar valuation. 2 high-severity red flags sit above this conclusion and should be read first.

This thesis breaks if

✓EBITDA margin holds above 2%4.2%
✗Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x66.6x
✗Free cash flow remains positive-₹133 Cr
✗ROCE stays above 8%-6.3%