Century Ply Q2FY27: consol PAT +46% YoY to ₹103.6 Cr; EBITDA margin dips on MDF weakness

Century Plyboards posted consolidated revenue from operations of ₹1,780.0 Cr for Q2 FY27 (quarter ended September 30, 2026), up 28.5% YoY from ₹1,385.5 Cr and 14.0% QoQ from ₹1,561.4 Cr. Consolidated net profit rose 46.1% YoY to ₹103.6 Cr (from ₹70.9 Cr) and 24.4% QoQ (from ₹83.3 Cr); of this, ₹100.8 Cr was attributable to the company's own shareholders, with basic EPS at ₹4.53 against ₹3.10 a year ago and ₹3.61 last quarter. Standalone PAT came in at ₹101.1 Cr, up a slower 38.9% YoY and 7.0% QoQ (EPS ₹4.55) — the gap versus consolidated growth points to subsidiaries and the logistics-services business contributing a disproportionate share of the quarter's incremental profit. Neither this quarter nor the year-ago quarter carried any exceptional item, so reported and adjusted growth are identical; the only one-off in the comparison set, a ₹7.68 Cr New Labour Codes provision, sat in FY26's full-year accounts rather than any single quarter. Net profit margin actually expanded to 5.82% of total income, against 5.11% a year ago and 5.33% last quarter, but that improvement sits below the operating line. EBITDA (operating) margin compressed to 11.78% from 12.60% YoY and 12.67% QoQ, so the NPM gain is explained by a lower effective tax rate (26.6% of PBT this quarter versus roughly 27.5% YoY and 28.4% QoQ) rather than stronger core profitability. Segment PBT shows why: Plywood & Allied Products — the largest segment — grew standalone PBT 38.1% YoY and 9.3% QoQ to ₹146.0 Cr, but the MDF segment's PBT nearly halved to ₹6.9 Cr from ₹15.6 Cr QoQ (and down from ₹12.0 Cr YoY), a meaningful drag against management's stated aspiration of 15%+ margins in MDF/particle board. Particle Board stayed loss-making but the loss narrowed sharply to ₹(4.4) Cr from ₹(14.6) Cr YoY and ₹(7.8) Cr QoQ. Management gave no formal quantitative FY27 guidance at the August concall, citing geopolitical volatility, so there is no numeric bar to grade this print against. No specific Q2FY27 consensus estimate could be confirmed via search; full-year FY27 brokerage models (e.g., PL Research) had pencilled in an annual EPS in the high-teens, broadly consistent with this quarter's ₹4.53 print, but that is a loose read, not a quarter-specific estimate. No separate management press release accompanied the filing — just the standard SEBI cover letter — so there is no fresh qualitative commentary to reconcile against the numbers. Two qualitative markers from the last concall did move this quarter: the Hoshiarpur greenfield plywood unit (60,000 CBM), targeted for Q3 FY27 commissioning, began production on November 2, 2026 — just after quarter-end and on schedule — while consolidated capex ran ₹368.3 Cr in H1FY27 per the cash flow statement, in some tension with management's August statement that no material capex was planned near-term, likely reflecting spend already committed to Hoshiarpur and MDF expansion.