Genus Paper & Boards Limited

Basic Materials — Paper & Paper Products · NSE

₹10.34+₹0.11 (+1.08%)

DalalBaazaar Score

51 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

High

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

In simple words: The business is earning a fairly low return on the money invested in it, but sales are shrinking. Cash generation is currently the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:01 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Genus Paper & Boards Limited primarily manufactures and sells kraft paper in India and internationally. It operates through Paper Business, Coke Business, and Strategic Investment Activity segments.

IndustryPaper & Paper Products

SectorBasic Materials

Employees883

Annual revenue₹940 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹940 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹2 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹8 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 883 employees supports ₹1.06 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹1.06 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 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.

Peer median ROE22.3%

What has been driving growth?

Profit has moved mainly because margins changed, not because the business sold much more. Over 3 years revenue moved +30% while net margin moved -195% 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+30%

Margin effect-195%

DalalBaazaar Score

51/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✓ Beta of 0.34 — historically steadier than the index
✗ 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

46/ 100

Average

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

Valuation

78/ 100

Cheap

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

A reasonable business at a reasonable price — neither the quality nor the valuation stands out in either direction.

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

18.8x

2Y Median

55.2x

28 monthly readings · mean 90.3x · range 18.1x–205.7x

Sector Median

28.7x

median of 4 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 66% below its 2y median of 55.2x. 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 35% below the peer median of 28.7x.

vs. its own history

Cheap

55.2x median over 28 months · -66%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

28.7x median of 4 peers · -35%

vs. generic bands

Fair

15x–35x

EV/EBITDA

9.2x

PEG

—

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well3

Margins are improving
EBITDA margin is up from 4.6% to 8.2% over 3 years.
Return on equity is rising
ROE has improved from -2.4% to 2.9%.
Return on capital is rising
ROCE has improved from 0.9% to 6.3%.

🔴 What Needs Attention0

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

Red Flags

3 items require attention · 3 high

🔴Debt has risen sharplyFinancial
Total debt is up 56% over 3 years, from ₹283 Cr to ₹443 Cr.
🔴Thin interest coverageFinancial
Operating profit covers interest only 1.4x — little room if earnings dip.
🔴Free cash flow negative for 4 yearsFinancial
The business has not covered its capital spending from operations for several years running, which has to be funded externally.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Margin expansion has further to run
EBITDA margin has risen from 4.6% to 8.2%. If that holds, profit compounds faster than sales and today's multiple looks cheaper in hindsight than it does now.
Priced below its own history
The stock trades 66% 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 35% below the sector median. Either the market sees a problem the numbers do not show, or the discount closes.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

The debt load needs earnings to hold up
Debt is 5.8x 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
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 6%✓ 8.2%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x✗ 5.8x
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✗ -₹10 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Interest cover stays above 3x✗ 1.4x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.
5Revenue growth stays above 7% a year✓ 9.2% CAGR
Latest reported year was -14.4%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.

Investment Checklist

4 / 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

2 good · 4 neutral · 5 weak

Market Cap

₹266 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

18.8x

Fair

Fairly valued against the generic band

P/B Ratio

0.53x

Reasonable

Reasonable against the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹0.55

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

2.9%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

6.3%

Weak

Low return on total capital employed

Debt/Equity

0.87x

Moderate

Moderate leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

-14.4%

Shrinking

Sales are contracting

Profit Growth (YoY)

-12.5%

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

-₹10 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

P/E (Forward)

13.3x

Improving

Below the trailing multiple — the street expects earnings to grow into the price

Operating Margin

6.4%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

1.7%

Weak

Very little revenue reaches the bottom line

Current Ratio

1.26

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.34

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

20%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

10.7 / 11.4

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

41.2

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹722 Cr	₹712 Cr	₹849 Cr	₹940 Cr	+9.2%
EBITDA	₹33 Cr	₹58 Cr	₹70 Cr	₹77 Cr	+31.9%
EBITDA Margin	4.6%	8.2%	8.2%	8.2%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	-₹12 Cr	₹3 Cr	₹8 Cr	₹15 Cr	—
EPS	₹-0.46	₹0.13	₹0.31	₹0.57	—
ROE	-2.4%	0.7%	1.6%	2.9%	—
ROCE	0.9%	4.3%	5.6%	6.3%	—
Total Debt	₹283 Cr	₹340 Cr	₹375 Cr	₹443 Cr	+16.1%
Free Cash Flow	-₹98 Cr	-₹27 Cr	-₹38 Cr	-₹10 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 9.2% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 31.9% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from 4.6% to 8.2% over 3 years (+3.5 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has turned positive, from -₹12 Cr to ₹15 Cr.

🟢 EPS has turned positive, from ₹-0.46 to ₹0.57.

🟢 ROE has risen from -2.4% to 2.9% over 3 years (+5.3 pts).

🟢 ROCE has risen from 0.9% to 6.3% over 3 years (+5.4 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 16.1% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹1,146 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹639 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹0 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹61 Cr

Capex

-₹71 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

69.3%

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

6 general

Genus Paper and Boards Share: Paper Worth Buying in 2026?

Univest, 18 Aug

Genus Paper & Boards Ltd. Shareholding Pattern – Promoters, FIIs & DIIs

Value Research, 14 Sept

Genus Paper & Boards (GENUSPAPER.NS) Rises 3.80% as Stock Reclaims Ground Above ₹10.50 - Low Volatility Picks

siam.in, 30 Sept

Genus Paper & Boards passes all AGM resolutions; Agarwal re-appointed

scanx.trade, 28 Sept

GENUSPAPER Historical Data

Equitypandit, 20 Feb

Genus Paper & Boards Ltd. Key Financial Ratios – Valuation, Profitability & More

Value Research, 12 Sept

Watch Items

Revenue growth is negative (-14.4%) on the latest reported period — check if this is one-off or a trend.
Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongValuation

MiddlingGrowth · Profitability

WeakBusiness Quality · Financial Health · Risk

Points for each in the Score ↑

Unremarkable in both directions

A reasonable business at a reasonable price. Nothing here is alarming and nothing is compelling, which usually means the decision rests on things this data cannot see — the industry's direction, management's intent, and what else is available to you. 3 high-severity red flags sit above this conclusion and should be read first.

3 of 5 tripwires tripped — Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x; Free cash flow remains positive; Interest cover stays above 3x · see Key things to watch ↑