Havells Q2 FY27: Consol PAT +23% Adjusted, Cables +48% YoY, Margins Trail Year-Ago

Havells reported consolidated revenue of ₹6,431.99 Cr for Q2 FY27, up 34.6% YoY (down 1.3% QoQ on normal post-summer seasonality in the Lloyd AC business) — essentially in line with the ~₹6,500 Cr our pre-result preview flagged, with a much bigger beat buried inside the mix: cables revenue jumped 47.9% YoY to ₹2,998.90 Cr against the preview's ₹2,300-2,400 Cr expectation, a sharp acceleration from Q1's 27% YoY cables growth. Consolidated PAT for the period came in at ₹349.22 Cr, up 9.72% YoY as reported — but that headline understates the underlying trend: the year-ago quarter's other income included a one-off ₹45.27 Cr gain on sale of the Faridabad land/building (Note 4), and stripping that out, adjusted YoY PAT growth was closer to +23.2%. Against management's own prior guidance — margins recovering through operating leverage, mix and disciplined pricing, with A&P spend normalizing after a front-loaded Q1 — the quarter is on track but not complete: operating margin recovered to 8.91% from Q1's 7.15% as A&P spend eased back. The margin bridge is the real story. OPM of 8.91% is still ~26bps below the year-ago 9.17%, and net margin of 5.40% trails both Q1's 4.41% (sequential improvement) and last year's 5.89% adjusted/6.54% reported (a ~49bps adjusted YoY gap) — revenue grew faster (34.6% YoY) than adjusted profit (23.2% YoY), implying some operating deleverage or mix drag even after excluding the one-off. Segment-wise, Lloyd Consumer remains the drag: its segment loss widened to ₹103.65 Cr (standalone) from ₹51.02 Cr in Q1 and ₹98.85 Cr a year ago — expected given the AC season taper after Q1, but still the only major segment losing money, against Switchgears (₹198.44 Cr profit), Cables (₹304.26 Cr) and Lighting (₹45.94 Cr) all positive. Cables was the standout on both revenue and segment result (₹304.26 Cr vs ₹254.52 Cr in Q1), consistent with Nuvama's pre-print call for "strong double-digit revenue/EBITDA growth in Q2/Q3" off a low base — EBITDA (operating profit) itself grew 30.8% YoY to ₹573.32 Cr. The quarter's corporate activity reinforces the Lloyd focus: the company appointed Sandeep Sehgal as EVP-Sales Lloyd in August and Yudhishter Shringi as EVP & SBU Head in October, both landing as the segment's losses widened sequentially — leadership changes aimed squarely at the weakest link in the portfolio. HDFC Mutual Fund raising its stake to 5.012% this quarter is a data point on institutional positioning, even as the pre-result Street read flagged broader FII selling (ownership down from 21.6% to 15.91% YoY). Going into Q3, the test is whether cables' acceleration and Lloyd's new leadership can close the remaining OPM and adjusted-NPM gaps to last year.