D B Corp Ltd Q2 FY26 – The Newspaper That Refused to Die: ₹614 Cr Revenue, ₹93 Cr Profit, and 18 Million App Users Later
1. At a Glance
Once upon a recession, print was declared dead. D B Corp laughed, printed the obituary, and sold ads around it. Q2 FY26 results say it all — Revenue ₹614 Cr, PAT ₹93.5 Cr, up 13% YoY, OPM holding at 22%, and a juicy Dividend Yield of 4.75%.
CMP: ₹253 | Market Cap: ₹4,506 Cr | P/E: 13.1 x | ROE: 16.7% | ROCE: 21.1% Return in last 1 year: -25% (apparently, investors can’t read either).
The empire of Dainik Bhaskar, Divya Bhaskar, and Divya Marathi continues to flood north-Indian breakfast tables. With 51 printing plants, 2,000 journalists, and now 18.9 million app users, DB Corp is the hybrid beast — half ink, half algorithm, all drama.
2. Introduction
Imagine being a 1950-style media house in a 5G world — and still making ₹345 crore profit a year. That’s D B Corp. While OTT giants burn billions for subscriptions, this company still earns from that ancient innovation called advertising.
Founded by the Agarwal family, DBCL built Dainik Bhaskar into India’s most read daily, expanded into Gujarati and Marathi markets, added 94.3 My FM for your morning traffic jams, and sprinkled digital apps to prove it’s not a dinosaur.
Yet investors treat it like a fossil because print growth = 0%. But let’s be honest — if you’ve ever been in a small-town chai stall, you’ve seen a Bhaskar front page before you saw Netflix buffering.
DB Corp’s strategy is simple: rule Tier II-III India where the next 500 million readers still smell ink before they smell data. And while the metros doom-scroll, the Hindi heartland still pays ₹5 for newsprint and a free crossword.
So yes — print is dying, but D B Corp is writing the death certificate in bold, black, profitable ink.
3. Business Model – WTF Do They Even Do?
Three heads, one crown.
(1) Print Division (~90% revenue): India’s largest print empire — 5 newspapers, 3 languages, 57 editions. Dainik Bhaskar, Divya Bhaskar, Divya Marathi, DB Star, Saurashtra Samachar. Add magazines like Aha Zindagi and Bal Bhaskar — emotional therapy for advertisers and parents alike.
(2) Radio Division (~5–6% revenue): Brand 94.3 My FM operates in 30 cities across 7 states. Basically, background music for your office canteen.
(3) Digital & Events (~4% revenue but 100% buzz): Apps & portals in Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi — and newly, English (English Bhaskar). MAUs grew from 2 million (2020) → 19 million (2024). That’s a 9× jump, or as print editors call it: “What is an algorithm?”
DB Corp doesn’t chase subscriptions — it sells eyeballs, whether on paper, radio waves, or push notifications.
So yes — the business model is ancient, but it still converts gossip into gross margins.
4. Financial Overview
Metric
Q2 FY26
Q2 FY25
Q1 FY26
YoY %
QoQ %
Revenue (₹ Cr)
614
559
559
+9.9
+9.9
EBITDA (₹ Cr)
138
121
111
+14.0
+24.3
PAT (₹ Cr)
93
83
81
+13.2
+14.8
EPS (₹)
5.24
4.63
4.54
+13.2
+15.4
Commentary: Margins hold at ~22%. Advertising recovered post-election season; newsprint prices cooled 8–10% YoY, saving a fortune. Annualized EPS ~₹21 → P/E 13× vs sector ~12×. That’s fair — the market rewards discipline but still doubts whether teenagers read anything without emojis.
5. Valuation Discussion – Fair Value Range Only
a) P/E Method
EPS ₹19.4 | Industry P/E ≈ 11–14× → Fair Value Range ₹215 – ₹270
b) EV/EBITDA Method
EBITDA ≈ ₹590 Cr FY25 | EV ₹3,972 Cr → 6.7× Peer average ≈ 8× → Fair Range ₹240 – ₹295
c) DCF (educational estimate)
FCF ₹400 Cr growing 6% for 7 years @ WACC 10%. → Intrinsic range ₹230 – ₹310
Fair Value Range (Edu-only): ₹230 – ₹300 per share. 📜 Educational disclaimer — not investment advice, not a subscription offer, not financial astrology.
6. What’s Cooking – News, Triggers & Drama
Because no media house is complete without its own headlines.
Q2 FY26: Revenue ₹634 Cr, Net Profit ₹93 Cr — margins intact, ink not yet dry.
Legal Serials: NCLT Ahmedabad dismissed Go Paper GmbH’s insolvency petition (Sept 2025). DB Corp 1 – Paper Supplier 0.
Management Exits: CFO and Sales Head resigned earlier this year — corporate version of prime-time cast change.
Digital Push: Launch of English Bhaskar App to woo Gen Z who think Hindi is a Spotify playlist.
Dividend Bonanza: ₹12 per share last year — because shareholders deserve pocket money too.
Mumbai Launch: 2023 entry into India’s most crowded
