You are handed a one-page teaser. Check its headline claims against its own table and footnote, restate the trend, and list the first five questions you need answered to build the CIM.

Neither headline survives its own table: the CAGR is 10.0%, not 15%, and the 18% margin depends on a one-off order. The 15% is FY25's single-year growth of 14.7%. Strip out the Rs 20 crore export order and its Rs 8 crore of EBITDA, and revenue grew 7.1% a year with a FY25 margin of 16.3%, up from 15%. The business is improving, but more slowly than the teaser says.

When a flat listing says a two-minute walk to the station, you check the map before you sign. A teaser is a marketing document written by the sell side, so every headline claim should be recomputed from the table on the same page before you build anything on it. A CIM inherits the teaser's story; if the headline is wrong, every page written after it repeats the error to buyers who will find it in diligence, and the bank's credibility goes with it.

Restate it in two numbers. Excluding the export order, FY25 revenue is Rs 246 crore and EBITDA Rs 40 crore, so underlying growth is 7.1% a year and the margin rose from 15.0% to 16.3%. A normalisedAdjusted to remove items that will not recur, such as a one-off order or a legal settlement, to show what the business earns in a typical year. margin gain of about 1.3 points is still a real story, and a buyer valuing on FY25 EBITDA would otherwise pay a multiple on Rs 8 crore that will not come back. At 10x, that is Rs 80 crore of value the seller cannot defend.

Each question should close a gap the numbers opened. Start with the one-off, then the drivers of the margin, then the quality of the cash, because a CIM has to defend all three. First, is the export order truly one-off, or the first of a programme with that customer, and what is in the order book for FY26? Second, what is revenue by channel, product and customer, and how large is the top customer? Third, what drove the margin from 15% to 16.3%: paper and pulp prices, pricing, mix or operating leverage, and how much would reverse if input costs rose? Fourth, how does EBITDA convert to cash: working capital through the school season, inventory build before the academic year and capex? Fifth, are these audited figures, and what other adjustments does management make in its own numbers?

Close with how you would fix the teaser, not just criticise it. A strong answer proposes honest headlines that still sell: about 10% revenue growth with margin expansion of over a point on a normalised basis, plus a new export channel worth exploring. Buyers trust a teaser that discloses its one-offs, and a process that survives diligence without a price cut is worth more to the client than a headline that does not.