W. H. Brady & Company Limited

Industrials — Industrial Distribution · NSE

₹483.95₹0.00 (0.00%)

DalalBaazaar Score

45 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

Very High

Driven by high debt relative to equity, 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. Debt is the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 6:10 pm

Caution warranted. Multiple fundamental metrics — flagged in red below — point to either valuation stretch, leverage risk, or weakening profitability. This doesn't mean avoid the stock outright, but it does mean the burden of proof is on the growth story to justify the current price.

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

W. H. Brady & Company Limited, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, Trading, and sells of standardized Material Handling Equipment in India, Africa, and Southeast Asia. It operates through Rental, Trading, and Manufacturing and Entertainment segments.

IndustryIndustrial Distribution

SectorIndustrials

Annual revenue₹89 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹89 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹6 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹13 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation.

EBITDA margin12.8%

Net margin5.6%

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD., SIEMENS LTD, ABB INDIA LIMITED. These are the companies its valuation and returns are measured against elsewhere in this report.

LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD.P/E 30.1x · ROE 15.2%

SIEMENS LTDP/E 88.8x · ROE 10.5%

ABB INDIA LIMITEDP/E 92.6x · ROE 19.1%

What is its competitive advantage?Little sign of one

Returns on capital of 7.8% 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.

ROCE7.8%

ROE5.7%

Peer median ROE15.2%

What has been driving growth?

Sales and margins have both contributed to where profit is now. Over 3 years revenue moved +19% while net margin moved -24% 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+19%

Margin effect-24%

DalalBaazaar Score

45/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Revenue CAGR of only 6.0% — barely ahead of inflation
✗ Profit has declined at 3.2% a year
✗ Profit is compounding slower than revenue — margins are being squeezed as the business grows
✗ Latest-year revenue growth of -17.6% is below the longer-term trend — momentum is fading
✗ Profit fell 4.8% in the latest year

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

40/ 100

Weak

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

Valuation

73/ 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

20.1x

Sector Median

88.8x

median of 3 sector peers

🟢Against its sector it trades 77% below the peer median of 88.8x.

vs. its own history

Not enough price and earnings history

vs. sector peers

Cheap

88.8x median of 3 peers · -77%

vs. generic bands

Fair

15x–35x

P/E (Trailing)

20.1x

P/B

0.82x

EV/EBITDA

11.6x

PEG

—

Dividend Yield

None

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well1

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

🔴 What Needs Attention4

Free cash flow is negative
The business is not currently covering its capital spending from operations.
Return on equity is falling
ROE has dropped from 10.8% to 5.7% — each rupee of shareholder capital earns less than it did.
Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from 15.4% to 7.8% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.
Inventory building faster than sales
Inventory is up 67% against revenue growth of 19% — stock may not be moving.

Red Flags

3 items require attention · 1 high · 2 watch

🔴High leverageFinancial
Debt/Equity of 7.55x — earnings must service borrowings before shareholders see anything.
🟡Free cash flow is negativeFinancial
Free cash flow was -₹6 Cr in the latest year.
🟡Inventory building faster than salesFinancial
Inventory up 67% against revenue up 19% — stock may not be moving.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Cheaper than its peers
It trades 77% 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 7.55x. Interest is payable whether or not the business has a good year.
Growth barely outpaces inflation
Revenue compounding at 6.0% a year is close to the rate prices rise, so the business is gaining little ground in real terms. That leaves the share price dependent on a re-rating rather than on earnings growth.
Returns on shareholder capital are falling
ROE has dropped from 10.8% to 5.7%. 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.
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 11%✓ 12.8%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹6 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
3Revenue growth stays above 5% a year✓ 6.0% CAGR
Latest reported year was -17.6%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
4Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 0.7x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
5ROCE stays above 8%✗ 7.8%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

3 / 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
✗ 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

Price history

Quick Metrics

2 good · 3 neutral · 6 weak

Market Cap

₹123 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

20.1x

Fair

Fairly valued against the generic band

P/B Ratio

0.82x

Reasonable

Reasonable against the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹24.11

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

5.7%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

7.8%

Weak

Low return on total capital employed

Debt/Equity

7.55x

High

High leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

-17.6%

Shrinking

Sales are contracting

Profit Growth (YoY)

-4.8%

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

-₹6 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

CMP

₹483.95

Operating Margin

-0.1%

Weak

Thin margins leave little room for error

Net Margin

6.0%

Average

Average bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

3.78

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.34

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

39%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

RSI (14)

45.6

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹74 Cr	₹89 Cr	₹105 Cr	₹89 Cr	+6.0%
EBITDA	₹10 Cr	₹14 Cr	₹16 Cr	₹11 Cr	+2.6%
EBITDA Margin	14.1%	16.1%	15.0%	12.8%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹5 Cr	₹9 Cr	₹21 Cr	₹5 Cr	-3.2%
EPS	₹21.38	₹35.15	₹80.91	₹19.42	-3.2%
ROE	10.8%	14.8%	25.0%	5.7%	—
ROCE	15.4%	21.1%	32.0%	7.8%	—
Total Debt	₹6 Cr	₹5 Cr	₹11 Cr	₹8 Cr	+7.0%
Free Cash Flow	₹9 Cr	₹4 Cr	-₹17 Cr	-₹6 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 6.0% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 2.6% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA Margin has fallen from 14.1% to 12.8% over 3 years (-1.3 pts).

🔴 PAT (Net Profit) has shrunk at 3.2% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EPS has shrunk at 3.2% a year over 3 years.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 10.8% to 5.7% over 3 years (-5.1 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 15.4% to 7.8% over 3 years (-7.6 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 7.0% a year over 3 years.

🔴 Free Cash Flow has turned negative, from ₹9 Cr to -₹6 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹130 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹29 Cr

Total Debt

₹8 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹1 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹5 Cr

Capex

-₹11 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

87.2%

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD.	30.1x	15.2%
SIEMENS LTD	88.8x	10.5%
ABB INDIA LIMITED	92.6x	19.1%

Recent News

2 mixed4 general

WH Brady & Company Share Price Near 52-Week Low Analysis

Univest, 18 Sept

W H Brady closes trading window from Oct 1 for Q2FY27 results

scanx.trade, 27 SeptResults

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

WH Brady & Company Ltd. Key Financial Ratios – Valuation, Profitability & More

Value Research, 31 Aug

Half Yearly Results, Half yearly Earnings for W H Brady

The Economic Times, 18 JunResults

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

Volume Gainers, August 20, 2026 at 3:30 PM IST

HDFC Sky, 20 Aug

SJP ULTRASONICS LTD. Stock/Share price , NSE/BSE Forecast News and Live Quotes

Equitymaster, 08 Oct

Watch Items

Revenue growth is negative (-17.6%) 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

🔴Business QualityWeak7.5/20

🟡Financial HealthAdequate10.6/20

🔴GrowthWeak6.2/20

🔴ProfitabilityWeak5.8/15

🟢ValuationAttractive11.3/15

🔴RiskHigh3.7/10

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

This thesis breaks if

✓EBITDA margin holds above 11%12.8%
✗Free cash flow remains positive-₹6 Cr
✓Revenue growth stays above 5% a year6.0% CAGR
✓Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x0.7x
✗ROCE stays above 8%7.8%