Bajaj Consumer Care Q2 FY27: PAT +66% YoY to ₹70 Cr as margins expand to 24.7%

Bajaj Consumer Care's consolidated PAT rose 65.9% YoY to ₹70.15 Cr in Q2 FY27 (quarter ended Sep 30, 2026), well ahead of the 25.5% YoY rise in revenue from operations to ₹332.83 Cr (from ₹265.27 Cr) — net margin expanded to 21.1% from 15.5% a year ago. Sequentially both lines pulled back modestly from Q1 FY27's pace (revenue -2.6% QoQ from ₹341.57 Cr, PAT -0.8% QoQ from ₹70.75 Cr); this reads as normalization after Q1's unusually strong 28% YoY print rather than a seasonality effect, and management had itself flagged a near-term slowdown. Consolidated basic EPS was ₹5.37 versus ₹3.24 a year ago and ₹5.42 in Q1. No exceptional items or minority-interest adjustments appear in either statement, so the comparisons are on a clean basis; standalone PAT of ₹70.53 Cr is marginally higher than consolidated, an immaterial (<1%) divergence from one loss-making subsidiary. Gross margin compressed to roughly 59.9% from ~61.8% in Q1 — exactly the raw-material-cost pressure (linked to West Asia volatility) management guided for on the July concall. Despite that drag, the operating (EBITDA) margin still expanded to ~24.7% from 18.0% a year ago and 24.4% in Q1, landing inside the "low-to-mid-20s" band management said it was targeting; advertising-spend discipline and fixed-cost optimization offset the gross-margin squeeze, so the quarter reads as guidance met. Against our pre-result preview (Q2 revenue ~₹365–380 Cr, EBITDA margin 22–24%, PAT ~₹55–65 Cr), the company missed on revenue but beat on margin and profit, with PAT coming in well above the flagged range. Street consensus heading in had priced FY27 revenue growth of 19% and profit growth of 41% (unanimous BUY across 8 analysts, PT ₹695–696 vs ₹489 then); this quarter's 25.5%/65.9% YoY prints run ahead of that full-year math, though one quarter doesn't confirm the full-year trajectory given Q1's even stronger comp. No management press release accompanies this filing, so there is no fresh managerial commentary on the quarter beyond the standard board-meeting outcome letter. Alongside the results, the board accepted independent director K.S. Narayanan's resignation (effective close of business Oct 14, cited personal/medical reasons) and appointed Jitendra Mahajan — a three-decade FMCG veteran from Diageo, Marico and Britannia — as his replacement for a five-year term. This follows an August senior-management change and a September HDFC Mutual Fund stake reduction (cut 2.88 points to 4.43%); none of these move this quarter's P&L directly but add governance-watch context alongside the numbers.