The Sandesh Limited

Communication Services — Publishing · NSE

₹992.60+₹6.75 (+0.68%)

DalalBaazaar Score

56 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

Moderate

Driven by 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, with both sales and profits growing well. Cash generation is currently the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:47 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

The Sandesh Limited, together with its subsidiary, Sandesh Digital Private Limited, engages in the editing, printing, and publishing of newspapers and periodicals in India. It operates through three segments: Media; Finance; and Trade in Commodities.

IndustryPublishing

SectorCommunication Services

Employees434

Annual revenue₹440 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹440 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹15 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹24 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 434 employees supports ₹1.01 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹1.01 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 6.5% 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?

Profit has moved mainly because margins changed, not because the business sold much more. Over 3 years revenue moved +30% while net margin moved -50% 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-50%

DalalBaazaar Score

56/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

• Revenue CAGR of 9.1% is steady
✗ Profit has declined at 13.4% a year
✗ Profit is compounding slower than revenue — margins are being squeezed as the business grows

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

51/ 100

Average

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

Valuation

88/ 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

7.0x

3Y Median

9.5x

40 monthly readings · mean 8.7x · range 4.4x–12.3x

Sector Median

21.7x

median of 2 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 26% below its 3y median of 9.5x. 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 68% below the peer median of 21.7x.

vs. its own history

Cheap

9.5x median over 40 months · -26%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

21.7x median of 2 peers · -68%

vs. generic bands

Cheap

Below 15x

EV/EBITDA

7.0x

PEG

—

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 9.6% to 4.6% — each rupee of shareholder capital earns less than it did.
Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from 12.6% to 6.5% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.

Red Flags

4 items require attention · 2 high · 2 watch

🔴Significant margin compressionFinancial
EBITDA margin has fallen 7.9 points, from 31.7% to 23.8%.
🔴Inventory building faster than salesFinancial
Inventory up 1338% against revenue up 30% — stock may not be moving.
🟡Free cash flow is negativeFinancial
Free cash flow was -₹151 Cr in the latest year.
🟡Profit is decliningFinancial
Net profit is down 35% over 3 years.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Priced below its own history
The stock trades 26% 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 68% 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?

Margins are being competed away
EBITDA margin has fallen from 31.7% to 23.8%. If the trend continues, profit falls even on flat sales — and margin decline rarely reverses quickly.
Returns on shareholder capital are falling
ROE has dropped from 9.6% to 4.6%. 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
2 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 22%✓ 23.8%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹151 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
3Revenue growth stays above 7% a year✓ 9.1% CAGR
Latest reported year was 329.9%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
4ROCE stays above 8%✗ 6.5%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.
5Valuation vs its own median of 9.5x✓ 7.0x today
A re-rating above its own history needs a reason; without one it is just a higher price.

Investment Checklist

6 / 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
✓ 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

5 good · 3 neutral · 3 weak

Market Cap

₹751 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

7.0x

Cheap

Cheap against the generic band

P/B Ratio

0.53x

Reasonable

Reasonable against the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹141.74

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

4.6%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

6.5%

Weak

Low return on total capital employed

Debt/Equity

Not available

No data

Source didn't return this field

Revenue Growth (YoY)

329.9%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

71.4%

Healthy

Profits growing at a healthy clip

Dividend Yield

0.50%

Modest

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

Free Cash Flow

-₹151 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

P/E (Forward)

8.4x

Flat

At or above the trailing multiple — no earnings uplift is being priced in

Operating Margin

20.0%

Good

Healthy core-business profitability

Net Margin

12.2%

Good

Strong bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

15.82

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.42

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

40%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

1010.9 / 1037.2

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

35.2

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹338 Cr	₹318 Cr	₹294 Cr	₹440 Cr	+9.1%
EBITDA	₹107 Cr	₹93 Cr	₹106 Cr	₹105 Cr	-0.8%
EBITDA Margin	31.7%	29.2%	35.9%	23.8%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹101 Cr	₹189 Cr	₹77 Cr	₹66 Cr	-13.4%
EPS	₹133.98	₹249.14	₹101.89	₹86.99	-13.4%
ROE	9.6%	14.9%	5.7%	4.6%	—
ROCE	12.6%	18.6%	7.1%	6.5%	—
Free Cash Flow	₹81 Cr	₹149 Cr	₹64 Cr	-₹151 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 9.1% a year over 3 years.

🟡 EBITDA has been broadly flat over 3 years (-0.8% a year).

🔴 EBITDA Margin has fallen from 31.7% to 23.8% over 3 years (-7.9 pts).

🔴 PAT (Net Profit) has shrunk at 13.4% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EPS has shrunk at 13.4% a year over 3 years.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 9.6% to 4.6% over 3 years (-5.0 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 12.6% to 6.5% over 3 years (-6.0 pts).

🔴 Free Cash Flow has turned negative, from ₹81 Cr to -₹151 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹1,527 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹99 Cr

Total Debt

—

Cash & Equivalents

₹21 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

-₹145 Cr

Capex

-₹6 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

87.9%

Corporate Actions

Dividend Rate

₹5

Ex-Dividend Date

14 Aug 2026

Peer Comparison

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

Recent News

1 positive5 general

Sandesh vs Nifty 50: 1Y Return -15.70% vs -9.64%

Univest, 14 Oct

The Sandesh (SANDESH) Share/Stock Price Live, NSE

TechGraph, 08 Oct

Sandesh FY26 revenue up 49.76% to ₹43,782 Lakhs; AGM on Sep 15

scanx.trade, 15 OctResults

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

Sandesh Ltd leads gainers in 'B' group

Business Standard, 06 Aug

Stock Market Today 1247 points fall in the stock market these 3 reasons are responsible | Gujarati News

Sandesh, 24 Sept

The Sandesh Ltd. Shareholding Pattern – Promoters, FIIs & DIIs

Value Research, 30 Aug

Watch Items

Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.
1 metric couldn't be retrieved for this stock — this is more common for smaller or thinly-covered listings.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongFinancial Health · Valuation

MiddlingBusiness Quality · Profitability

WeakGrowth · 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. 2 high-severity red flags sit above this conclusion and should be read first.

2 of 5 tripwires tripped — Free cash flow remains positive; ROCE stays above 8% · see Key things to watch ↑