Leela Hotels Q2 FY27: consolidated PAT rises 27% YoY to Rs.94.6 Cr on margin expansion

Leela Palaces Hotels & Resorts' consolidated (primary-basis) PAT attributable to owners rose 26.6% year-on-year to Rs.94.6 Cr in Q2 FY27 (quarter ended Sep 30, 2026), on revenue up 32.6% YoY to Rs.411.9 Cr. No Q2 FY27-specific Street estimate could be located -- only coarse annual FY27E EPS figures exist in public trackers -- so the print cannot be graded beat/miss against consensus with any confidence. Sequentially, PAT nearly doubled (+93.8% QoQ) off the Q1 (Apr-Jun) base, but the company's own filing notes (note 6) that quarterly results are not representative of full-year performance given hotel-sector seasonality, so this QoQ jump reads as a seasonal swing rather than fresh momentum, and the YoY print remains the primary read. Margins expanded on both counts: operating margin (EBITDA ex-other income, over revenue) rose to 45.6% from 44.4% a year ago and 40.7% last quarter, with EBITDA up 20.6% YoY to Rs.193.9 Cr; net margin held at 22.6% versus 22.4% YoY. Below EBITDA, the group's share of losses from joint ventures and associates widened to Rs.11.5 Cr from Rs.2.4 Cr a year ago (Rs.15.6 Cr in Q1 FY27) -- these sit in newer, still-ramping JV assets (Lago Vue Srinagar, Leela BKC Holdings, BPBKC Properties, per the review report's entity list) rather than any one-off charge, and they explain why PBT growth (+18.3% YoY) trails EBITDA growth even as PAT growth outpaces both on a lower effective tax rate this quarter. Standalone (parent-only) PAT of Rs.79.7 Cr grew just 9.4% YoY on 18.9% revenue growth -- materially softer than the consolidated print, confirming growth is increasingly coming from the subsidiary/JV portfolio rather than the parent's own properties. Against management's FY27 guidance from the Q1 call of "mid-to-high-teens EBITDA growth," H1 FY27 consolidated EBITDA grew 19.8% YoY to Rs.345.8 Cr -- at or just above the top of that range, consistent with the confident, "very optimistic" tone carried into the quarter. The filing discloses no RevPAR or occupancy data (hoteliering is reported as a single segment with no segment-wise breakout), so the guided low-70s occupancy and ~1.6x Net Debt/EBITDA targets cannot be directly verified here; gross consolidated borrowings were roughly flat at Rs.1,560 Cr versus Rs.1,557 Cr at March 2026. No company press release or management commentary accompanied this filing to cross-check framing beyond the reported numbers. During the quarter the company invested Rs.185 Cr in subsidiary Buildminds Real Estate (Aug 10, 2026) -- part of building out the 1,000+-key development pipeline behind the Rs.2,000 Cr EBITDA-by-FY30 target -- and the board approved a fresh grant of 21,61,729 employee stock options under the ESOP 2024 scheme. Neither item distorts this quarter's P&L (both are below-the-line or non-cash), so they stand as pipeline context rather than earnings drivers this quarter.