Century Business Media Limited

Communication Services — Advertising Agencies · BSE

₹65.00₹0.00 (0.00%)

DalalBaazaar Score

78 / 100

🟢 Good

Verdict

ATTRACTIVE

Risk

Moderate

Driven by micro-cap size, which brings thin liquidity.

In simple words: Strong business and financial position, with both sales and profits growing well. Nothing obvious stands out as stretched — the usual checks on business quality and management still apply.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 6:09 pm

Constructive picture on fundamentals. Profitability, leverage and growth metrics are broadly healthy on this snapshot. That said, valuation should still be checked against direct sector peers (not just the generic P/E bands used here) before treating this as a buy signal.

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Century Business Media Limited provides Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising services in digital and non-digital formats in Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, and the North Eastern states.

IndustryAdvertising Agencies

SectorCommunication Services

Annual revenue₹46 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹46 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹12 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹19 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation.

EBITDA margin19.4%

Net margin12.0%

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.

BHARTI AIRTEL LIMITEDP/E 39.8x · ROE 20.2%

VODAFONE IDEA LIMITEDP/E 3.6x · ROE —

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

ROCE has stayed above 15% in every year available and stands at 32.8%. Returns that high normally get competed away; when they persist, something is protecting them, and its ROE of 36.4% 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.

ROCE32.8%

ROE36.4%

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 +106% while net margin moved +150% 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+106%

Margin effect+150%

DalalBaazaar Score

78/ 100

Good

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Micro Cap: thinner liquidity and sharper drawdowns are normal
✗ Profits have swung sharply from year to year — earnings are hard to forecast

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

86/ 100

Excellent

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

Valuation

85/ 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

10.3x

Sector Median

21.7x

median of 2 sector peers

🟢Against its sector it trades 53% below the peer median of 21.7x.

vs. its own history

Not enough price and earnings history

vs. sector peers

Cheap

21.7x median of 2 peers · -53%

vs. generic bands

Cheap

Below 15x

P/E (Trailing)

10.3x

P/B

2.33x

EV/EBITDA

6.8x

PEG

0.14

Dividend Yield

None

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well6

Margins are improving
EBITDA margin is up from 11.8% to 19.4% over 3 years.
Cash flow has turned positive
Free cash flow moved from negative to positive over 3 years.
Return on equity is rising
ROE has improved from 26.5% to 30.8%.
Return on capital is rising
ROCE has improved from 22.2% to 32.8%.
High return on capital employed
ROCE of 32.8% 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 Attention1

Debt is rising
Total debt is up 38% over 3 years — worth checking what it funded.

Red Flags

1 item require attention · 1 watch

🟡Debt is increasingFinancial
Total debt is up 38% over 3 years.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Capital compounds at a high rate
ROCE of 32.8% 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 11.8% to 19.4%. If that holds, profit compounds faster than sales and today's multiple looks cheaper in hindsight than it does now.
Cheaper than its peers
It trades 53% below the sector median. Either the market sees a problem the numbers do not show, or the discount closes.
Self-funding with balance-sheet headroom
Positive free cash flow of ₹3 Cr alongside low debt means growth, buybacks or dividends need no outside money — and a downturn can be absorbed rather than refinanced.
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?

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.

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

1Revenue growth stays above 20% a year✓ 27.2% CAGR
Latest reported year was 26.7%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above 17%✓ 19.4%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹3 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 0.9x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
5ROCE stays above 30%✓ 32.8%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

10 / 10 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

Price history

Quick Metrics

8 good · 3 neutral · 0 weak

Market Cap

₹57 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

10.3x

Cheap

Cheap against the generic band

P/B Ratio

2.33x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹6.34

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

36.4%

Strong

Strong capital efficiency

ROCE

32.8%

Strong

Earns comfortably above its likely cost of capital

Debt/Equity

0.44x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

26.7%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

18.0%

Healthy

Profits growing at a healthy clip

Dividend Yield

None

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

Free Cash Flow

₹2 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

CMP

₹65

ROA

18.6%

Good

Assets are working hard

Operating Margin

17.2%

Good

Healthy core-business profitability

Net Margin

12.0%

Good

Strong bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

2.62

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

52W Range Position

Near low

Near its 52-week low

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹23 Cr	₹32 Cr	₹37 Cr	₹46 Cr	+27.2%
EBITDA	₹3 Cr	₹6 Cr	₹8 Cr	₹9 Cr	+49.9%
EBITDA Margin	11.8%	18.2%	20.7%	19.4%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹1 Cr	₹4 Cr	₹5 Cr	₹6 Cr	+72.6%
EPS	₹1.23	₹4.21	₹5.37	—	—
ROE	26.5%	47.5%	37.8%	30.8%	—
ROCE	22.2%	40.5%	42.3%	32.8%	—
Total Debt	₹6 Cr	₹8 Cr	₹5 Cr	₹8 Cr	+11.3%
Free Cash Flow	-₹1 Cr	-₹2 Cr	₹5 Cr	₹3 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 27.2% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 49.9% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from 11.8% to 19.4% over 3 years (+7.6 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 72.6% a year over 3 years.

🟢 ROE has risen from 26.5% to 30.8% over 3 years (+4.3 pts).

🟢 ROCE has risen from 22.2% to 32.8% over 3 years (+10.6 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 11.3% a year over 3 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has turned positive, from -₹1 Cr to ₹3 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹31 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹13 Cr

Total Debt

₹8 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹4 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹6 Cr

Capex

-₹3 Cr

Peer Comparison

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

Recent News

2 mixed4 general

Century Business Media Limited Share Price - Live CENTURYOOH Stock Price & Chart

Upstox, 15 Oct

Century Business Media Ltd Share Price

Business Today, 15 Oct

Century Business Media Q2 Results

Livemint, 15 OctResults

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

Century Business Media Ltd. Share Price Live Today

CNBC TV18, 12 Oct

Century Business Media Q3 Results

Livemint, 15 OctResults

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

Century Business Media (BSE:544928) - Stock Analysis

Simply Wall Street, 19 Sept

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 QualityStrong15.4/20

🟢Financial HealthStrong17.8/20

🟢GrowthStrong18.5/20

🟢ProfitabilityStrong12.9/15

🟢ValuationAttractive11/15

🔴RiskHigh2.3/10

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.

This thesis breaks if

✓Revenue growth stays above 20% a year27.2% CAGR
✓EBITDA margin holds above 17%19.4%
✓Free cash flow remains positive₹3 Cr
✓Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x0.9x
✓ROCE stays above 30%32.8%