Quick Heal returns to profit in Q2 FY27 but consol PAT down 27%, ~47% YoY adjusted

Quick Heal's consolidated PAT came in at ₹5.80 Cr in Q2 FY27, reversing Q1 FY27's ₹5.28 Cr loss, but still down 26.7% from ₹7.91 Cr a year earlier as consolidated revenue fell 22.3% YoY to ₹64.93 Cr (₹83.52 Cr in Q2 FY26). The reported number is flattered by a one-off: ₹1.60 Cr of the ₹1.47 Cr net tax benefit this quarter is a prior-period tax adjustment credit that has no equivalent in the year-ago column. Strip it out and underlying PAT was closer to ₹4.20 Cr — a 46.9% YoY decline, the number the quarter should actually be judged on. EBITDA margin compressed to 3.5% (₹2.3 Cr) from 11.1% a year ago, even as it recovered sharply from Q1 FY27's -39.1% margin, and net profit margin (PAT/total income) slipped to 7.92% from 9.00% YoY. The topline weakness traces to the consumer segment: domestic revenue was ₹61.49 Cr this quarter versus ₹77.83 Cr a year ago, consistent with management's own framing on the Q4 FY26 call of a 'transitional phase' of declining consumer revenue. Employee costs fell to ₹41.47 Cr from ₹48.58 Cr YoY in step with the lower revenue base, while the tax line — not operations — did the work of turning the quarter accounting-profitable. Management's Q4 FY26 guidance said these headwinds would persist 'a maximum of two more quarters'; that window covers Q1 and Q2 FY27, and the return to profit here is broadly on schedule even though revenue is still contracting YoY exactly as flagged. No street consensus specific to this quarter turned up in search; analysts have generally pencilled in 15-20% PAT growth for FY27 as a whole, a bar this quarter's YoY decline (reported or adjusted) does not support on current run-rate — treat as unknown pending a quarter-specific estimate. CFO Ankit Maheshwari's press-release framing of 'disciplined and efficient growth' is borne out in the balance sheet: trade receivables fell to ₹97.8 Cr from ₹106.6 Cr in Q1 FY27, with total overdue down ~₹78 Cr since H1 FY26, on tighter consumer credit controls. The quarter also carried a Company Secretary transition (Sarang Deshpande resigned October 23, 2026; Shailesh Shinde appointed October 27, 2026) and the appointment of Grant Thornton Bharat LLP as internal auditor — governance housekeeping, not tied to the numbers. The swing factor into H2 FY27 is the ₹57 Cr+ enterprise order book the press release cites, which CEO Harish Kumar GS called a 'resilient' base — whether it converts fast enough to offset the ongoing consumer decline is what the next two quarters will show.