Pace Digitek Q1 FY27: revenue +51% YoY but margin squeeze cuts EPS despite PAT growth

Pace Digitek's consolidated Q1 FY27 (quarter ended June 30, 2026) revenue rose 51.3% YoY to ₹555.36 Cr from ₹367.08 Cr, and PAT grew 14.3% YoY to ₹62.51 Cr from ₹54.70 Cr — but profit growth trailed revenue growth by a wide margin, and basic EPS actually fell to ₹2.84 from ₹3.03 a year ago (-6.3%) because the post-October-2025 IPO share base is ~21% larger. Sequentially, revenue and PAT are down 49.4% and 41.0% respectively from a seasonally heavy March 2026 quarter (₹1,096.78 Cr revenue, ₹105.92 Cr PAT), consistent with EPC/energy project billing that typically front-loads into the March quarter rather than any demand issue this quarter. Standalone, the smaller and more mature part of the business, printed revenue of ₹264.24 Cr and PAT of ₹42.51 Cr. The quarter's real story is margin compression: consolidated OPM (EBITDA/revenue) fell to 15.50% from 21.81% a year ago, and NPM (PAT/total income) fell to 10.71% from 14.68%, driven by a sharp jump in cost of materials consumed (₹375.32 Cr vs ₹39.66 Cr YoY) and mix shift as the Energy/BESS segment scaled — Energy contributed ₹591.47 Cr of the ₹706.00 Cr gross segment revenue (before elimination), against just ₹24.96 Cr a year ago, when Telecom still dominated. That is below management's own guidance from the Q3 FY26 concall, which called for EBITDA margins to stabilize around ~18% as the mix shifted toward energy — this quarter's consolidated print missed that mark, even though standalone-only OPM of 18.71% sits close to the guided level, meaning the divergence is concentrated in the newer subsidiaries. Against that backdrop, the quarter's corporate actions track the guided energy/BESS buildout: management said in February 2026 it would double BESS manufacturing capacity to 10 GWh by September 2026, and this week (August 4, 2026) confirmed capacity has been doubled to 5 GWh — roughly the halfway point on that timeline, alongside a new R&D center with IISER Pune, a supply MoU with Bondada Renewable, and an AI-data-center power partnership with MEGMEET, all energy-segment-adjacent. No management press release accompanying the results was available to check for company framing of the print, and no formal Street consensus estimates for this quarter turned up in search — commentary ahead of results (Univest) flagged only a qualitative expectation of improving margins as cost pressures ease, which this print does not yet show at the consolidated level.