Anant Raj Q1FY27: consol PAT +18.5% YoY to ₹149 Cr as margins expand

Anant Raj's consolidated revenue came in at ₹631.40 Cr, up 6.6% YoY but down 2.4% QoQ, while consolidated PAT rose 18.5% YoY (and a flat +0.3% QoQ) to ₹149.19 Cr, with basic EPS of ₹4.16 versus ₹3.67 a year ago. Neither the current nor comparable quarters carry exceptional items, so this is a clean, comparable print — profitability outgrew revenue on a YoY basis. The margin story is the driver: operating margin expanded to 29.0% from 25.4% YoY and 25.9% QoQ (~360bps), and net margin rose to 22.9% from 20.9% YoY, even as depreciation nearly doubled to ₹16.21 Cr (from ₹7.89 Cr YoY) as new data-center capacity came online. Finance costs fell to ₹1.20 Cr (from ₹2.37 Cr YoY, ₹3.80 Cr QoQ), aided by the QIP-funded deleveraging. Working against this, the effective tax rate climbed to 21.1% of PBT versus 14.5% QoQ and 17.1% YoY, so pre-associates profit grew only 17.2% YoY despite PBT growing 23.2%; a ₹3.06 Cr contribution from associates/JVs (versus ₹1.25 Cr YoY and a ₹1.18 Cr loss last quarter) helped lift final PAT growth back to 18.5%. No consensus PAT estimate for this specific quarter turned up in search; the closest available brokerage color (Motilal Oswal) had flagged margin risk from new data-center capacity ramping up and weighing on near-term profitability — this quarter's margin expansion runs counter to that caution, though it isn't a hard beat/miss against a numeric estimate. Management gave no formal topline guidance for the quarter; the standing markers from the last call — 63MW data-center capacity by December 2026, 117MW by FY28, and a ~75% EBITDA margin target specific to the Data Center segment — are not independently verifiable here since the company discloses only one reportable segment (Real Estate Development) with no segment-wise P&L split. Post-quarter, on July 21, 2026, the board approved a Composite Scheme of Arrangement to demerge the Data Centre and Cloud Services undertaking into Ashok Cloud Private Limited for a planned separate listing, with existing shareholders to hold 49% directly — no impact on this quarter's numbers, but it formalizes the AI/cloud growth push flagged on the prior call. The company also incorporated Anant Raj Cloud Singapore Pte Ltd as an overseas reseller/co-location arm and took Romano Projects to 100% ownership. On the balance sheet, ₹6.50 Cr of NCDs were converted into an SBI term loan rather than eliminated — still debt, so the 'zero-debt' framing from the last call is not yet literally true even as leverage stays low; QIP utilisation reached ₹410 Cr of the ₹1,099.99 Cr raised, with ₹689.99 Cr still unutilised for the data-center/cloud buildout.