Huhtamaki India PAT down 19% YoY to ₹29.7 Cr; one-off hits despite 23% revenue growth

Huhtamaki India's standalone revenue from operations grew 23.1% YoY (and a modest 2.5% QoQ) to ₹768.8 Cr in the quarter ended September 30, 2026. Standalone PAT, however, fell 19.1% YoY and 32.0% QoQ to ₹29.7 Cr, with EPS at ₹3.94 against ₹4.87 a year ago and ₹5.79 last quarter. Reported PBT came in at ₹39.4 Cr versus ₹49.0 Cr of profit-from-operations before exceptional items — the gap is a ₹9.6 Cr exceptional charge booked this quarter. The exceptional item — ₹3.57 Cr of accelerated depreciation plus a ₹6.03 Cr employee-settlement accrual — relates to the company's decision to close one of its three pressure-sensitive (PS) Labels manufacturing sites and consolidate operations at the remaining two, following the September 1, 2026 closure of the Baddi PS Labels factory flagged in our event records. Stripping the charge out, EPS before exceptional items was ₹4.89, essentially flat against ₹4.87 a year ago (+0.4% adjusted) — so underlying earnings growth did not keep pace with the 23% revenue gain, and net margin compressed to 3.9% from 5.8% both YoY and QoQ. Core profit from operations before exceptional items was ₹49.0 Cr (6.4% of revenue), down from 7.8% of revenue in Q1 FY27. Management's July concall had flagged it "won't expect 23% growth every quarter" alongside a stated priority of margin expansion via productivity and price pass-through; this quarter delivered almost exactly that 23%-type revenue growth, but margins moved the wrong way, so the margin-expansion commitment was not met in the quarter taken alone, even though it holds over nine months. In its own press release, management called Q2 FY27 revenue growth "strong" and "better than the prior year, driven by volume growth as well as pass through of material cost increases," and described quarterly EBIT as "broadly in line"/"flat" with the year-ago quarter — consistent with the ~0.4% adjusted PAT growth computed here — while pointing to 22% YoY EBIT growth over the nine-month period (₹152.8 Cr before exceptional items) as the better underlying signal. No analyst consensus or brokerage preview for this specific quarter turned up in a web search, so vsStreet is marked unknown rather than inferred. Going into next quarter, the key markers are whether the PS Labels restructuring is now fully booked or carries further costs, whether core operating margin recovers from the current ~6.4% back toward the 7-10% band seen in recent quarters, and whether revenue growth normalizes closer to the high-single/low-double digits management previously signaled as sustainable.