Fusion Finance swings to ₹62.4 Cr profit YoY; QoQ dip is a tax-credit base effect

Fusion Finance (standalone; no consolidated entity exists) posted Q1 FY27 revenue from operations of ₹458.2 Cr, up 5.5% YoY from ₹434.4 Cr, and swung to a net profit of ₹62.4 Cr against a ₹92.3 Cr loss a year ago — a clean YoY turnaround, since both periods carried nil tax so there is no one-off to adjust for on a YoY basis. The turnaround was driven almost entirely by credit costs: impairment on financial instruments fell to ₹39.7 Cr from ₹178.9 Cr YoY (-78%), pulling total expenses down even as finance costs rose. No consensus estimates for this small-cap NBFC-MFI's Q1 print were found, so vsStreet is unknown. Sequentially the headline looks softer — PAT fell 45% and EPS dropped to ₹3.86 from ₹7.06 — but this is a base-effect artifact, not a genuine slowdown: PBT actually rose 66.8% QoQ, from ₹37.4 Cr to ₹62.4 Cr, and pre-provision operating profit (PBT + impairment) grew about 9.7% QoQ to ₹102.1 Cr. Q4FY26's ₹114.2 Cr PAT was flattered by a ₹76.78 Cr deferred-tax credit that did not recur this quarter. This PPOP growth is broadly consistent with management's prior guidance that PPOP acceleration would begin in Q1FY27 and build further in Q2FY27, so the print is on-track on that specific guidance line, though the company's ₹10,000 Cr AUM-by-March-2027 target cannot be checked against this filing since AUM is not disclosed here. Net profit margin was 13.62% (per the company's own Reg. 52(4) disclosure), up sharply YoY from -20.7% but down from 26.55% QoQ on the tax base effect and a 13.4% QoQ rise in finance costs to ₹149.8 Cr, reflecting a larger borrowing book (debt-equity 2.32x). Asset quality held steady with Gross Stage III at 2.51%, Net Stage III at 0.47%, provision coverage at 81.5%, and capital remains ample at 36.95% CRAR and ₹2,520.7 Cr net worth. Corporate developments this quarter were incremental rather than result-moving: the company forfeited ₹1.07 Cr of partly-paid rights-issue shares (1,63,028 shares) and approved a new 'Individual Loans' product line effective the results date; no separate management press release beyond the regulatory filing was available to cross-check framing. Going into Q2FY27, the credit-cost trend (guided at 2.5-3%) and confirmation of continued PPOP acceleration are the key markers to watch.