Atul Auto Q2 FY27: Consolidated PAT down 17% YoY to ₹6.84 Cr as margins compress

Atul Auto's consolidated revenue grew 34.0% YoY to ₹268.31 Cr in the quarter ended September 30, 2026, driven by a 28.9% YoY jump in three-wheeler volumes to 11,916 units (+22.8% QoQ from 9,878 units). Despite the topline strength, consolidated PAT fell 17.3% YoY to ₹6.84 Cr, down 14.9% sequentially from ₹8.04 Cr in Q1 FY27. There were no exceptional items in either the current or year-ago quarter, so this is a genuine margin story rather than a one-off distortion. The NBFC subsidiary, Khushbu Auto Finance, swung to a segment pre-tax loss of ₹0.24 Cr this quarter from a ₹1.76 Cr profit a year ago — a ₹2.00 Cr negative swing that accounts for the bulk of the ₹2.61 Cr YoY drop in consolidated pre-tax profit (₹8.99 Cr vs ₹11.60 Cr). The core automobiles segment held relatively steady at ₹9.23 Cr PBT, down just 6.2% YoY despite the 34% revenue jump, so the group-level squeeze is concentrated in the financing arm rather than broadly across the vehicle business, though cost of materials consumed also rose faster than revenue (+39.2% YoY vs +34.0% revenue growth), pointing to some raw-material/pricing lag within automobiles too. Consolidated EBITDA margin (PBT plus depreciation and finance cost, as a share of revenue) compressed to roughly 5.9% from about 9.3% a year ago and 7.7% last quarter; net margin fell to 2.55% from 4.12% YoY. Standalone PAT of ₹6.87 Cr looks like a 43.6% YoY decline, but that is against a prior-year base redrawn upward by the Note 7 restatement, so the consolidated read is the more reliable one and still shows a clear YoY decline. No analyst consensus estimates for this quarter turned up in public searches, so the print cannot be benchmarked against the Street, and the company carries no formal prior guidance or concall commentary on record in our data, so there is no management target to grade this against either; no separate press release accompanied this filing to add commentary beyond the financial statements. Demand itself stayed intact through the quarter — September 2026 three-wheeler sales rose roughly 28% YoY per the company's own monthly update — underscoring that the shortfall is margin-led, not demand-led. Half-year consolidated operating cash flow turned sharply positive to ₹31.74 Cr from -₹19.12 Cr in H1 FY26, aided by inventory and trade-payables movements, a partial offset to the profit decline. With volumes still growing at a double-digit clip and margins now the swing factor, the next readout is whether material costs ease or pricing catches up in Q3, and whether the NBFC arm returns to profit after this quarter's loss.