Dachepalli Publishers Limited

Communication Services — Publishing · BSE

₹97.25₹0.00 (0.00%)

DalalBaazaar Score

76 / 100

🟢 Good

Verdict

REASONABLE

Risk

High

Driven by negative free cash flow, micro-cap size, which brings thin liquidity.

In simple words: Strong business and financial position, with modest growth. Cash generation is currently the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:02 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Dachepalli Publishers Limited, content-based educational publishing house that publishes K-12 segment textbooks for CBSE, ICSE, and State Board curriculums. It also provides schools with curriculum-aligned digital resources.

IndustryPublishing

SectorCommunication Services

Annual revenue₹91 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹91 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹17 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹26 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation.

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?Some evidence

ROCE of 19.4% is above what capital typically costs, which suggests some pricing power, though not yet the sustained, wide gap that marks a durable advantage.

Peer median ROE20.2%

What has been driving growth?

Profit has moved mainly because margins changed, not because the business sold much more. Over 3 years revenue moved +102% while net margin moved +1483% 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+102%

Margin effect+1483%

DalalBaazaar Score

76/ 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
✗ Negative free cash flow means dependence on external funding

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

82/ 100

Excellent

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

8.8x

1.0Y Median

11.8x

12 monthly readings · mean 11.7x · range 7.7x–15.0x

Sector Median

21.7x

median of 2 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 25% below its 1.0y median of 11.8x. 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 59% below the peer median of 21.7x.

vs. its own history

Cheap

11.8x median over 12 months · -25%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

21.7x median of 2 peers · -59%

vs. generic bands

Cheap

Below 15x

EV/EBITDA

7.7x

PEG

0.04

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well5

Margins are improving
EBITDA margin is up from 7.2% to 25.7% over 3 years.
Debt is being paid down
Total debt is down 18% over 3 years.
Return on equity is rising
ROE has improved from 2.9% to 19.0%.
Return on capital is rising
ROCE has improved from 5.4% to 19.4%.
Consistently profitable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years.

🔴 What Needs Attention0

Nothing stands out as clearly deteriorating on the years of data available.

Red Flags

2 items require attention · 1 high · 1 watch

🔴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.
🟡Free cash flow is negativeFinancial
Free cash flow was -₹26 Cr in the latest year.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Capital compounds at a high rate
ROCE of 19.4% 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 7.2% to 25.7%. If that holds, profit compounds faster than sales and today's multiple looks cheaper in hindsight than it does now.
Deleveraging frees up earnings
Debt is down 18% over 3 years. Every rupee of interest not paid drops to the bottom line, so profit can grow even if revenue does not.
Priced below its own history
The stock trades 25% 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 59% below the sector median. Either the market sees a problem the numbers do not show, or the discount closes.

🔴 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✓ 26.4% CAGR
Latest reported year was 159.4%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above 24%✓ 25.7%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹26 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 1.5x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
5ROCE stays above 16%✓ 19.4%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

10 / 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

6 good · 4 neutral · 1 weak

Market Cap

₹146 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

8.8x

Cheap

Cheap against the generic band

P/B Ratio

1.69x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹11.01

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

19.0%

Strong

Strong capital efficiency

ROCE

19.4%

Strong

Earns comfortably above its likely cost of capital

Debt/Equity

0.50x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

159.4%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

4.5%

Modest

Slow profit growth

Dividend Yield

None

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

Free Cash Flow

-₹26 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

Operating Margin

19.5%

Good

Healthy core-business profitability

Net Margin

14.3%

Good

Strong bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

4.72

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

52W Range Position

86%

Near high

Near its 52-week high

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

98.0 / 89.1

Bullish alignment (short > long)

RSI (14)

36.5

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹45 Cr	₹51 Cr	₹64 Cr	₹91 Cr	+26.4%
EBITDA	₹3 Cr	₹7 Cr	₹13 Cr	₹24 Cr	+93.7%
EBITDA Margin	7.2%	14.0%	20.2%	25.7%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹0 Cr	₹3 Cr	₹8 Cr	₹15 Cr	+217.5%
EPS	₹0.32	₹2.22	₹5.58	₹10.15	+217.5%
ROE	2.9%	16.8%	28.5%	19.0%	—
ROCE	5.4%	10.2%	16.9%	19.4%	—
Total Debt	₹43 Cr	₹45 Cr	₹46 Cr	₹35 Cr	-6.5%
Free Cash Flow	₹1 Cr	₹5 Cr	₹1 Cr	-₹26 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 26.4% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 93.7% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from 7.2% to 25.7% over 3 years (+18.6 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 217.5% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EPS has grown at 217.5% a year over 3 years.

🟢 ROE has risen from 2.9% to 19.0% over 3 years (+16.1 pts).

🟢 ROCE has risen from 5.4% to 19.4% over 3 years (+14.1 pts).

🟢 Total Debt has shrunk at 6.5% a year over 3 years.

🔴 Free Cash Flow has turned negative, from ₹1 Cr to -₹26 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹150 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹70 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹1 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

-₹23 Cr

Capex

-₹3 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

85.1%

Peer Comparison

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

Recent News

1 mixed5 general

Dachepalli Publishers meets seven investors in physical sessions

scanx.trade, 21 Aug

Dachepalli Publishers IPO GMP, Date, Price Band & Review

IndiaIPO, 22 Dec

Dachepalli Publishers hosts analyst and investor meet on Sept 25

scanx.trade, 25 SeptAnalyst view

🟡Mixed / dependsBroker commentary — an opinion about the price rather than new information about the business.

Dachepalli Publishers IPO: GMP among key things to know before subscription

The Economic Times, 22 Dec

Dachepalli Publishers Share Price News After 8.97% Gain

Univest, 04 Sept

Dachepalli Publishers IPO GMP, Grey Market Premium Today

IPO Watch, 15 Dec

Watch Items

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

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongBusiness Quality · Financial Health · Growth · Profitability · Valuation

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. 1 high-severity red flag sits above this conclusion and should be read first.

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