Aether Industries Q2 FY27: consol PAT +26% YoY (~20% adj.), revenue +24%, margins expand

Aether Industries' consolidated Q2 FY27 (quarter ended 30 Sep 2026) revenue came in at ₹347.2 Cr, up 23.9% YoY from ₹280.2 Cr and 6.3% QoQ from ₹326.6 Cr (Q1 FY27). Consolidated PAT was ₹68.0 Cr, up 26.0% YoY as reported; adjusted for a ₹2.68 Cr exceptional fire-insurance charge that hit the year-ago quarter's PBT (and is absent this quarter), underlying PAT growth was closer to 20.1% YoY — still a strong, clean print with no one-offs of its own this time. No formal sell-side consensus for this specific quarter turned up in search, so vs-Street is unknown; against the company's own FY27 margin guidance (EBITDA margin 29-30%, PAT margin 19-20%, cited in a pre-results preview), the quarter beat on both counts — OPM came in at 31.8% and NPM at 19.6%. Margins expanded on both axes: OPM rose to 31.8% from 31.5% in Q1 FY27 and 31.4% a year ago, while NPM improved to 19.6% from 19.2% (QoQ) and 19.3% (YoY). The expansion sits mainly on the materials line — cost of materials consumed was 76.9% of revenue, broadly flat QoQ — alongside a ₹99.7 Cr build in finished-goods/WIP inventory this quarter (consolidated) that reduced the net cost-of-goods charge; part of this quarter's margin therefore reflects inventory build rather than a durable cost reset, worth watching if it reverses. The tax rate held near 23.2% (vs 24.8% in Q1 FY27), a modest tailwind to PAT. Standalone (parent-only) PAT was ₹51.9 Cr on ₹274.5 Cr revenue; the ₹16.1 Cr gap to consolidated PAT is explained by the wholly-owned subsidiary Aether Speciality Chemicals, which added ₹72.7 Cr revenue and ₹16.9 Cr PAT pre-elimination per the auditor's note — directionally consistent with the parent, not a divergent story. On the corporate side, CGST dropped a ₹4.26 Cr tax notice against the company on 2 October 2026, removing a contingent liability just ahead of this print, and Crisil raised its ESG rating to 58 in late September. SBI Mutual Fund trimmed a 2% stake on 1 August 2026 — an ownership move, not a fundamentals one. Capex is tracking the Site 5/R&D expansion flagged on the last concall: consolidated CWIP grew ₹199.1 Cr in H1 FY27 (to ₹705.2 Cr) and the company drew a fresh ₹208.5 Cr net term loan this half to fund it, though H1's total capex spend of ~₹243 Cr (PP&E + CWIP additions, cash-flow statement) is a fraction of the ₹3,000-3,500 Cr FY27 capex figure cited in the last guidance — that scale gap suggests the guidance number may span a multi-year Site 5/semiconductor/silicones build-out rather than FY27 alone, worth clarifying on the next call. No management press release or commentary was available with this filing to cross-check against the numbers directly. Going into H2 FY27, the quarter sets up three things to track: whether the ~24% YoY revenue growth and 31-32% OPM hold as new LSM products from the Magnum facility — flagged in Street previews to start contributing from Q2 FY27 — scale up; whether the 400-tonne semiconductor-grade material capacity targeted for commissioning by end-September 2026 (per the last concall) is now online; and whether the inventory build seen this quarter normalizes or continues to flatter reported margins.