Dabur Q2 FY27: Consol PAT +12% YoY, revenue +11.6% in line with guidance; OPM dips 68bps

Dabur's consolidated revenue came in at ₹3,563.07 Cr, up 11.65% YoY (down 5.35% QoQ off a seasonally stronger June quarter), with consolidated PAT of ₹498.57 Cr, up 12.09% YoY (owners' share ₹505.50 Cr, +11.70% YoY) and EPS of ₹2.85 versus ₹2.55 a year ago. Both lines landed essentially on plan: Nuvama had pencilled in ~11.8% YoY consolidated revenue growth ahead of the print, and the company's own pre-result business update had flagged double-digit revenue and PAT growth off the ₹3,191.32 Cr/₹452-453 Cr Q2 FY26 base — this is an in-line quarter, not a beat. The growth came with margin give-back rather than the expansion management promised on the Q1 FY27 call, where guidance was for margins "better YoY through pricing, premiumization, cost discipline." Operating margin compressed to 17.75% from 18.43% a year ago (-68bps) and from 19.69% in the June quarter; net margin was roughly flat at 13.99% versus 13.94% a year ago. Total expenses grew 12.0% YoY (₹3,089.14 Cr vs ₹2,758.33 Cr), slightly outpacing the 11.65% revenue growth, which is the direct arithmetic source of the margin slip — the promised cost-discipline/pricing tailwind has not yet shown up at the consolidated level. Standalone (India-only) revenue grew 8.86% YoY to ₹2,432.87 Cr with PAT of ₹387.84 Cr (+11.23% YoY), meaningfully slower on the topline than the consolidated number — the gap is explained by international and subsidiary operations (consolidated minus standalone revenue) growing an estimated 18.2% YoY to ~₹1,130 Cr, now the faster-growing part of the group. On corporate actions, the NCLT approved the Sesa Care amalgamation (appointed date 1 April 2026, certified order received 12 October 2026, effective on ROC filing) during the quarter, and the Board declared an interim dividend of ₹3.50/share (record date 10 November 2026, payable from 25 November 2026); the trading window was closed 1 October–6 November around these results. No management press release text was available in our records to cross-check against the numbers. H1 FY27 consolidated revenue is running at +11.09% YoY (₹7,327.46 Cr vs ₹6,595.90 Cr), keeping pace with the reaffirmed full-year double-digit guidance. The open question into Q3 is whether the 68bps YoY OPM compression this quarter was a one-off or the start of a trend, given management's own stated expectation of margin expansion rather than contraction.