Sandur Manganese: consolidated PAT +36% YoY to ₹228 Cr, finance costs halve, NPM at 16.6%

Sandur Manganese's consolidated PAT rose 36.4% year-on-year to ₹227.85 Cr in Q1 FY27, ahead of a 21.1% revenue increase to ₹1,374.78 Cr (Q1 FY26: ₹167.09 Cr / ₹1,135.38 Cr). Sequentially the print is down — revenue fell 9.0% and PAT 3.6% from Q4 FY26's ₹1,511.39 Cr / ₹236.28 Cr — consistent with monsoon-hit mining output rather than any change in trajectory; the YoY read is the one that matters here and it is strong. The margin story is split by line. Operating margin actually compressed to ~25.0% of revenue from 26.4% a year ago, so the profit beat is not coming from the operating line. It's finance costs: consolidated finance costs fell to ₹26.11 Cr from ₹53.59 Cr a year ago and ₹55.38 Cr last quarter (-51% YoY, -53% QoQ), pushing net margin up to 16.6% from 14.5% YoY despite the softer operating margin. This lines up with the company's reported net-debt-free status after Q4 FY26 (Business Standard, ScanX) — a full quarter without meaningful interest cost is now flowing straight to the bottom line. Segment-wise, ferroalloys was the standout: revenue jumped to ₹116.01 Cr from ₹43.45 Cr a year ago (+167%) with segment profit up to ₹6.20 Cr from ₹0.76 Cr. The steel subsidiary (consol-only) grew revenue 18.5% YoY to ₹859.44 Cr but was flat QoQ. Standalone PAT grew a slower 25.2% YoY on 27.8% revenue growth — a wider divergence from the consolidated growth rates than usual, reflecting the steel business's outsized contribution to group profit growth. Separately, the company's compensatory-afforestation dispute with Karnataka's Deputy Conservator of Forest continued: both the Karnataka High Court and the Supreme Court dismissed the company's challenges this quarter, and DCF has since raised its demand to ₹139.05 Cr (from ₹131.25 Cr) tied to forest-lease renewal beyond December 2026; a review petition is pending. The board also recommended a ₹0.50/share final dividend (record date 12 August, AGM 19 August) — a corporate item concurrent with, not driven by, this print. Management gives no formal guidance on record for this print, and no prior-quarter guidance existed in our records to check against. A web search for Q1 FY27-specific street estimates for this stock turned up nothing concrete, so vsStreet is unknown rather than assumed. Going into Q2, the two things worth tracking are whether the near-zero finance cost run-rate holds and whether ferroalloys' new revenue level is durable.