DAPS Advertising Limited

Communication Services — Advertising Agencies · BSE

₹25.90₹0.00 (0.00%)

DalalBaazaar Score

45 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

NEUTRAL

Risk

High

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

In simple words: The business is earning a fairly low return on the money invested in it, with both sales and profits growing well. Debt is the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 6:59 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

DAPS Advertising Limited, an advertising agency, provides display, creative, recruitment, and tender ads in India. The company operates through Print Media; Electronic Media; and Outdoor Media segments.

IndustryAdvertising Agencies

SectorCommunication Services

Employees9

Annual revenue₹22 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹22 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹6 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹10 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 9 employees supports ₹2.46 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹2.46 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?Little sign of one

Returns on capital of 10.4% 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.

Peer median ROE20.2%

What has been driving growth?

Growth has come mainly from selling more, rather than from keeping more of each sale. Over 3 years revenue moved -26% while net margin moved -7% 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-26%

Margin effect-7%

DalalBaazaar Score

45/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Revenue has contracted at 9.7% a year
✗ Profit has declined at 11.9% a year

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

37/ 100

Weak

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

Valuation

81/ 100

Cheap

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

Optically cheap, but the underlying business scores poorly. Cheap-and-weak is what a value trap looks like from the outside — the low price may be deserved.

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

9.9x

3Y Median

9.0x

40 monthly readings · mean 9.3x · range 5.5x–14.3x

Sector Median

21.7x

median of 2 sector peers

🟡Currently trading close to its 3y median of 9.0x — the market is paying about what it usually pays for this company.

🟢Against its sector it trades 55% below the peer median of 21.7x.

vs. its own history

Fair

9.0x median over 40 months · +10%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

21.7x median of 2 peers · -55%

vs. generic bands

Cheap

Below 15x

EV/EBITDA

2.3x

PEG

0.65

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well1

Consistently profitable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years.

🔴 What Needs Attention2

Return on equity is falling
ROE has dropped from 13.4% to 7.5% — each rupee of shareholder capital earns less than it did.
Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from 18.0% to 10.4% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.

Red Flags

4 items require attention · 3 high · 1 watch

🔴Debt has risen sharplyFinancial
Total debt is up 420% over 3 years, from ₹0 Cr to ₹1 Cr.
🔴High leverageFinancial
Debt/Equity of 7.92x — 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.
🟡Profit is decliningFinancial
Net profit is down 32% over 3 years.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Cheaper than its peers
It trades 55% 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 7.92x. Interest is payable whether or not the business has a good year.
Returns on shareholder capital are falling
ROE has dropped from 13.4% to 7.5%. 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
3 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 8%✓ 9.9%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹1 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
3Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 0.7x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
4ROCE stays above 8%✓ 10.4%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.
5Valuation vs its own median of 9.0x✓ 9.9x today
A re-rating above its own history needs a reason; without one it is just a higher price.

Investment Checklist

6 / 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 · 3 neutral · 2 weak

Market Cap

₹13 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

9.9x

Cheap

Cheap against the generic band

P/B Ratio

0.74x

Reasonable

Reasonable against the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹2.62

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

7.8%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

10.4%

Moderate

Moderate return on the capital in the business

Debt/Equity

7.92x

High

High leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

11.6%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

15.1%

Healthy

Profits growing at a healthy clip

Dividend Yield

0.97%

Modest

Small cash return — most of the return has to come from the price

Free Cash Flow

₹1 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

ROA

3.8%

Average

Average asset productivity

Operating Margin

7.9%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

6.1%

Average

Average bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

3.45

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

-0.38

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

82%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

24.4 / 24.5

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Above

Long-term uptrend

RSI (14)

62.7

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹30 Cr	₹20 Cr	₹19 Cr	₹22 Cr	-9.7%
EBITDA	₹3 Cr	₹2 Cr	₹2 Cr	₹2 Cr	-8.9%
EBITDA Margin	9.6%	8.5%	9.8%	9.9%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹2 Cr	₹1 Cr	₹1 Cr	₹1 Cr	-11.9%
EPS	₹4.74	₹2.1	₹2.29	—	—
ROE	13.4%	6.9%	7.1%	7.5%	—
ROCE	18.0%	9.5%	9.6%	10.4%	—
Total Debt	₹0 Cr	₹0 Cr	₹0 Cr	₹1 Cr	+73.3%
Free Cash Flow	₹1 Cr	-₹2 Cr	₹2 Cr	₹1 Cr	+5.3%

🔴 Revenue has shrunk at 9.7% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA has shrunk at 8.9% a year over 3 years.

🟡 EBITDA Margin has held roughly flat at 9.9% over 3 years.

🔴 PAT (Net Profit) has shrunk at 11.9% a year over 3 years.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 13.4% to 7.5% over 3 years (-5.9 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 18.0% to 10.4% over 3 years (-7.6 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 73.3% a year over 3 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has grown at 5.3% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹24 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹6 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹10 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹1 Cr

Capex

-₹0 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

72.8%

Corporate Actions

Dividend Rate

₹0.25

Ex-Dividend Date

11 Sept 2026

Peer Comparison

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

Recent News

1 positive1 mixed4 general

DAPS Advertising passes all 8 resolutions at 27th AGM with 100% votes

scanx.trade, 19 Sept

ROBOKIDZ EDUVENTURES LTD. Stock/Share price , NSE/BSE Forecast News and Live Quotes

Equitymaster, 14 Oct

Dividend stocks alert! Last day to qualify for dividend of these stocks - Check full list, amount, record date

Livemint, 10 SeptCapital return

🟢Potentially positiveCash or shares returned to holders. A buyback is only good value if the shares were cheap when bought.

Q4 Results Today: SBI, Swiggy, Hyundai Motor, Urban Company Over 75 Companies To Declare Earnings

NDTV Profit, 08 MayResults

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

DAPS Advertising Ltd Share Price

Business Today, 31 Jan

DAPS Stock Price and Chart — BSE:DAPS

TradingView, 14 Nov

Watch Items

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

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongValuation

MiddlingFinancial Health · Risk

WeakBusiness Quality · Growth · Profitability

Points for each in the Score ↑

Cheap, but for a reason

The low price is the whole case here, and the business underneath scores poorly. Cheap-and-weak is what a value trap looks like from the outside — it needs a specific reason the numbers are about to improve, not just the observation that they are low. 3 high-severity red flags sit above this conclusion and should be read first.

All 5 tripwires holding · see Key things to watch ↑