NOCIL Q2 FY27: consolidated PAT nearly doubles YoY to ₹24 Cr, margins expand, eases off Q1

NOCIL's consolidated PAT for the September 2026 quarter was ₹24.05 Cr, up 98% year-on-year from ₹12.12 Cr, on revenue from operations of ₹426.89 Cr, up 33% YoY from ₹320.56 Cr. Sequentially the print was softer: PAT eased 13% and revenue grew just 6% versus Q1 FY27's ₹27.76 Cr and ₹403.02 Cr. Standalone PAT was ₹23.84 Cr (+38% YoY), within 1% of consolidated, so the two bases agree this quarter. Consolidated basic EPS was ₹1.44 against ₹0.73 a year ago. Neither the current nor year-ago quarter carries an exceptional item, so the YoY comparison is clean and needs no adjustment. Margins moved in opposite directions across the two comparison windows. Operating margin (OPM) expanded to 8.43% from 6.96% a year ago even though cost of materials consumed rose faster than revenue (+53% YoY vs +33%) — operating leverage on slower-growing employee and depreciation costs offset the raw-material pressure. Sequentially, though, OPM compressed to 8.43% from 11.22% in Q1 FY27, a move driven mainly by a smaller favourable swing in the finished-goods/WIP inventory line (a ₹11.25 Cr drawdown this quarter versus ₹45.51 Cr in Q1, which had flattered Q1's expense ratio) rather than by materials cost itself, which was flat QoQ in absolute terms. Net margin followed the same pattern: 5.55% versus 3.66% YoY but down from 6.79% in Q1, with consolidated other income also down to ₹6.54 Cr from ₹10.18 Cr a year ago, capping the YoY net-margin gain. Against management's FY27 guidance of ₹1,400-1,600 Cr revenue at ~10% EBITDA margin (set out on the Q1 FY27 call), H1 FY27 revenue of ₹829.91 Cr annualises to roughly ₹1,660 Cr — at or above the top of the guided range — while H1 consolidated OPM of ~9.8% sits just under the ~10% margin target, so the quarter is broadly on-track to slightly ahead on volume/revenue and essentially in line on margin. No quarter-specific street consensus for Q2 FY27 turned up in a search; the only available analyst figure was a full-year FY27 EPS consensus of ₹4.70 (sharpely.in), against which H1 FY27 consolidated basic EPS of ₹3.10 is tracking at 66% of the full-year estimate with two quarters left. No press release accompanied this filing, so there is no fresh management commentary on the 10% volume-growth assumption, the TDQ trial-production ramp (guided to contribute meaningfully from Q4 FY27), or the 40-45% export-mix target to weigh against the print. The quarter's other disclosed developments don't bear materially on the operating numbers: a September 23 PRSU grant of 1,04,960 units under LTIP 2024, the September 1 appointment of Deloitte Haskins & Sells as statutory auditors, and a September 9 clarification that a trading-volume spurt carried no price-sensitive information.