1. At a Glance – Blink and You’ll Miss the Red Flags
Veranda Learning Solutions Ltd is currently sitting at a market cap of ₹1,903 Cr, trading around ₹198, which is a solid 27% below its 52-week high of ₹272. Over the last 3 months, the stock is down ~15%, which means either the market knows something… or it’s just bored of EdTech drama.
Latest Q3 FY26 numbers look deceptively spicy:
- Revenue: ₹117 Cr (+52% YoY)
- PAT: ₹17 Cr
- Quarterly profit growth: +105%
- OPM: ~32%
Sounds great, right?
Now zoom out.
- ROE: -78%
- ROCE: -13%
- Debt: ₹358 Cr
- Interest coverage: 1.45× (borderline “bhai bas chal raha hai”)
- P/E: 72.8×
So yes, profits are back — but balance sheet PTSD hasn’t gone anywhere.
This is not a boring company. This is a corporate thriller. And we’re just getting started.
2. Introduction – From EdTech Dream to Balance Sheet Gymnastics
Veranda Learning was born in 2018, peak EdTech optimism era — when every coaching class thought Zoom + PowerPoint = unicorn. Backed by the Kalpathi AGS Group, Veranda didn’t go the “one app, one course” route. Instead, it went full Indian buffet mode.
IAS? ✔
Banking? ✔
CA? ✔
PSC? ✔
Vocational? ✔
Offline coaching centres? 200+ ✔
This is not a tech company pretending to teach. This is a coaching empire pretending to be tech-enabled.
The strategy was clear:
Acquire aggressively, stitch brands together, and pray synergies show up before debt collectors do.
Between FY21 and FY25:
- Revenue exploded from ₹3 Cr to ₹471 Cr
- Losses also exploded (unfortunately, faster at times)
- Debt ballooned
- Equity diluted
- Promoter holding fell from ~60% to ~34%
So the big question becomes:
👉 Is FY26 the turnaround year… or just
another “adjusted EBITDA” chapter?
3. Business Model – WTF Do They Even Do?
Imagine BYJU’S, but with:
- More offline centres
- Less marketing spend
- And accountants breathing down management’s neck
That’s Veranda.
Their core playbook:
- Acquire strong regional coaching brands
- Keep their brand equity intact
- Add central tech, marketing, and finance layers
- Push hybrid O2O delivery
Business Verticals:
- Academic (K-12 & Higher Ed)
- Commerce Test Prep (CA, ACCA, CMA, CFA via J.K. Shah)
- Government Exams (PSC, SSC, Banking, Railways)
- Vocational & BFSI training
Revenue mix FY24:
- Offline: 69%
- Online: 31%
So no, this is not a pure online EdTech.
This is a brick-and-mortar coaching chain with digital garnish.
Does this model scale?
Yes.
Does it generate clean margins?
Depends on how much interest you’re paying that quarter.
4. Financials Overview – Numbers Don’t Lie, But They Smirk
Latest quarter EPS (Q3 FY26): ₹1.09
Annualised EPS = ₹1.09 × 4 = ₹4.36
Now let’s look at the quarterly comparison.
Quarterly Performance Table (₹ Cr)
| Metric | Latest Qtr (Q3 FY26) | YoY Qtr | Prev Qtr | YoY % | QoQ % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 117 | 77 | 127 | +52% | -8% |
| EBITDA | 38 | 14 | 46 | +171% | -17% |
| PAT | 13 | -17 | 96 | Turnaround | -86% |
| EPS (₹) | 1.09 | -2.49 | 10.01 | NA | -89% |
Witty takeaway:
QoQ looks ugly because Q2 had massive one-off income. Without that sugar
