Royal Orchid Hotels: consol PAT falls 39% YoY to ₹6.8 Cr as finance costs triple

Royal Orchid Hotels' consolidated PAT fell 39.3% YoY to ₹6.79 Cr (₹6.42 Cr attributable to owners) even as consolidated revenue rose 36.1% YoY to ₹107.21 Cr, against ₹11.19 Cr PAT and ₹78.77 Cr revenue a year ago. Sequentially both lines eased — revenue down 5.3% and PAT down 17.3% from Q4 FY26's ₹113.17 Cr/₹8.22 Cr — a typical post-peak-season pullback for a hotel chain rather than a fresh deterioration. Consolidated EPS was ₹2.34 versus ₹3.99 a year ago. Neither this quarter nor the year-ago quarter carried exceptional items (Q4 FY26 had a ₹2.17 Cr impairment-reversal gain), so the YoY read is on a clean, comparable basis. The profit decline sits entirely below the operating line. EBITDA margin (EBITDA/total income) was effectively flat at 28.7% versus 28.6% a year ago, and EBITDA itself grew 39.1% YoY to ₹32.93 Cr — broadly consistent with management's prior-call expectation of "revenue and EBITDA growth." The squeeze came from finance costs, which more than tripled YoY to ₹13.22 Cr (from ₹3.94 Cr, +235%), and depreciation & amortisation, up 125% to ₹11.53 Cr (from ₹5.13 Cr) — together erasing the EBITDA gain by the time it reaches PBT. That scale of finance-cost increase sits uneasily against management's own framing last quarter of "modest capex... funded by strong internal cash reserves," making it the one clause of prior commentary this print strains against even as top-line and EBITDA growth held up. No verifiable consensus PAT estimate for this quarter turned up in search — this is a small-cap with thin formal coverage — though a pre-print MarketsMojo note had already flagged "weak financials and bearish technicals," consistent with the net-margin compression seen here. Standalone PAT fell a milder 21.9% YoY to ₹2.82 Cr on just 9.8% standalone revenue growth (₹52.22 Cr vs ₹47.56 Cr), well below the 36.1% consolidated pace — the topline expansion is concentrated in subsidiaries and managed/revenue-share properties (new launches in Tirupati and Ahmedabad went live during the quarter) rather than the parent's own hotels. Auditors issued a qualified review report on both statements, citing unresolved SEBI/NCLT proceedings over whether erstwhile subsidiary KSDPL should be treated as a subsidiary rather than an associate, with the NCLT matter next heard on 20 August 2026 and the SEBI matter on 13 August 2026. Separately, the board reiterated the record date (28 August 2026) for the FY26 final dividend of ₹2.5/share approved in May; no new dividend accompanied this result. No standalone management press release was available for this filing, so the statement's own notes are the only management commentary on record this quarter. Going into Q2 FY27, the trajectory to watch is whether finance costs stay near this quarter's ₹13.22 Cr run-rate or ease as new properties season in, whether the Q1 concall finally brings the FY27-28 quantitative targets management deferred last quarter, and the outcome of the KSDPL NCLT/SEBI proceedings given the qualified audit opinion.