Emami Paper Mills Limited

Basic Materials — Paper & Paper Products · NSE

₹120.55−₹1.05 (−0.86%)

DalalBaazaar Score

46 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

NEUTRAL

Risk

Moderate

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

In simple words: Reasonable but unspectacular business quality, 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, 7:46 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Emami Paper Mills Limited engages in the manufacture and sale of paper and paper board products in India. It offers packaging boards; and newsprint, writing, and printing papers, kraft papers, paperboards, as well as specialty papers.

IndustryPaper & Paper Products

SectorBasic Materials

Employees1,059

Annual revenue₹1,902 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹1,902 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹3 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹11 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 1,059 employees supports ₹1.80 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹1.80 Cr

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are TATA STEEL LIMITED, JSW STEEL LIMITED, ULTRATECH CEMENT LIMITED, ASIAN PAINTS 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 13.6% 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 ROE22.3%

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 -20% while net margin moved +11% 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-20%

Margin effect+11%

DalalBaazaar Score

46/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Revenue has contracted at 7.1% a year
✗ Profit has declined at 3.9% a year

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

39/ 100

Weak

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

Valuation

84/ 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

8.9x

2Y Median

14.0x

26 monthly readings · mean 17.9x · range 7.9x–33.0x

Sector Median

28.7x

median of 4 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 36% below its 2y median of 14.0x. 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 69% below the peer median of 28.7x.

vs. its own history

Cheap

14.0x median over 26 months · -36%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

28.7x median of 4 peers · -69%

vs. generic bands

Cheap

Below 15x

EV/EBITDA

6.4x

PEG

—

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well4

Margins are improving
EBITDA margin is up from 9.0% to 11.2% over 3 years.
Debt is being paid down
Total debt is down 26% over 3 years.
Cash generation is improving
Free cash flow is up 2556% over 3 years.
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

No automated checks triggered

None of the automated financial checks below were triggered on the years of data available. That is not the same as a clean bill of health — see what could not be checked.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Margin expansion has further to run
EBITDA margin has risen from 9.0% to 11.2%. 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 26% 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 36% 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 69% 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?

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

1EBITDA margin holds above 9%✓ 11.2%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✗ 3.0x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
3Interest cover stays above 3x✗ 2.5x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.
4Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹168 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
5ROCE stays above 11%✓ 13.6%
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

6 good · 5 neutral · 0 weak

Market Cap

₹729 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

8.9x

Cheap

Cheap against the generic band

P/B Ratio

1.52x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹13.57

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

10.7%

Moderate

Moderate capital efficiency

ROCE

13.6%

Moderate

Moderate return on the capital in the business

Debt/Equity

1.42x

Moderate

Moderate leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

21.8%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

602.5%

Healthy

Profits growing at a healthy clip

Dividend Yield

2.65%

Healthy

Meaningful cash return while you hold the stock

Free Cash Flow

₹168 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

Operating Margin

12.5%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

4.7%

Average

Average bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

1.11

Adequate

Adequate, but no real cushion

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.53

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

83%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

116.8 / 115.2

Bullish alignment (short > long)

Price vs SMA 200

Above

Long-term uptrend

RSI (14)

67.9

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹2,371 Cr	₹1,988 Cr	₹1,917 Cr	₹1,902 Cr	-7.1%
EBITDA	₹214 Cr	₹233 Cr	₹138 Cr	₹213 Cr	-0.2%
EBITDA Margin	9.0%	11.7%	7.2%	11.2%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹69 Cr	₹84 Cr	₹26 Cr	₹61 Cr	-3.9%
EPS	₹8.71	₹10.61	₹3.32	₹8.69	-0.1%
ROE	9.9%	10.9%	3.8%	10.7%	—
ROCE	13.1%	14.8%	7.6%	13.6%	—
Total Debt	₹858 Cr	₹606 Cr	₹650 Cr	₹638 Cr	-9.4%
Free Cash Flow	₹6 Cr	₹332 Cr	₹23 Cr	₹168 Cr	+198.4%

🔴 Revenue has shrunk at 7.1% a year over 3 years.

🟡 EBITDA has been broadly flat over 3 years (-0.2% a year).

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from 9.0% to 11.2% over 3 years (+2.2 pts).

🔴 PAT (Net Profit) has shrunk at 3.9% a year over 3 years.

🟡 EPS has been broadly flat over 3 years (-0.1% a year).

🟡 ROE has held roughly flat at 10.7% over 3 years.

🟡 ROCE has held roughly flat at 13.6% over 3 years.

🟢 Total Debt has shrunk at 9.4% a year over 3 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has grown at 198.4% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹1,822 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹1,247 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹0 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹197 Cr

Capex

-₹30 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

84.1%

Corporate Actions

Dividend Rate

₹3.2

Ex-Dividend Date

28 Aug 2026

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
TATA STEEL LIMITED	19.8x	10.8%
JSW STEEL LIMITED	12.0x	24.7%
ULTRATECH CEMENT LIMITED	37.6x	11.1%
ASIAN PAINTS LIMITED	46.9x	22.3%

Recent News

1 positive3 mixed2 general

Emami Paper Mills (BSE:533208) - Stock Analysis

Simply Wall Street, 14 Oct

Emami Paper Mills Reports Q1 Net Profit of ₹38.7 Crore, EBITDA Margin at 14.8%

Sahi, 22 JulResults

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

Emami Paper Mills: Best Stock in Its Sector? Key Metrics

Univest, 25 Sept

Paper stocks rally up to 20% as Emami Paper reports 6x jump in Q1 PAT

Business Standard, 22 JulResults

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

Emami Paper Mills Q1 net profit surges to ₹38.61 crore, EBITDA margin expands

scanx.trade, 22 JulResults

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

Emami Paper Mills shares hit 20% upper circuit on strong Q1 results; Huhtamaki, JK Paper gain up to 14%...

Moneycontrol.com, 22 JulResults

🟡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

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

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongValuation

MiddlingBusiness Quality · Financial Health

WeakGrowth · Profitability · Risk

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.

2 of 5 tripwires tripped — Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x; Interest cover stays above 3x · see Key things to watch ↑