SJVN cons. PAT +114% YoY to ₹658 Cr on Buxar ramp-up; margins compress on fuel costs

SJVN's consolidated PAT (primary basis) came in at ₹657.72 Cr for Q2 FY27, up 114% YoY from ₹307.80 Cr and up 193% QoQ from ₹224.74 Cr, on revenue from operations of ₹2,244.32 Cr (+117% YoY, +61% QoQ). The YoY jump is flattered by roughly ₹283 Cr of one-off prior-period revenue: ₹242.59 Cr at NJHPS recognised on receipt of the CERC provisional tariff order for 2024-29, plus ₹40.42 Cr at Buxar Thermal following its CERC interim-tariff order — both nil in the year-ago quarter. Stripping this out, underlying YoY PAT growth is closer to ~46% rather than the headline 114%, still a strong print but well below face value. No quarter-specific Street consensus for SJVN's Q2 FY27 could be located, so the result is not graded against Street. Despite the profit growth, consolidated operating margin compressed to 61.05% from 71.39% YoY and net margin slipped to 29.31% from 29.81%. The driver is a business-mix shift: the newly commissioned 660 MW Buxar Thermal unit (commissioned 12 September 2026), housed in subsidiary SJVN Thermal Pvt Ltd, together with SJVN Green Energy, added ₹837.99 Cr of combined revenue this quarter but posted a combined net LOSS of ₹80.19 Cr — typical of a coal plant in early ramp, carrying full depreciation and interest ahead of stabilised utilisation. Consolidated fuel cost, nil a year ago, was ₹331.13 Cr this quarter; finance cost rose 55% YoY to ₹488.10 Cr and depreciation rose 54% YoY to ₹262.78 Cr, both tied to the new capacity. The pure-hydro standalone book remains far higher-margin (operating margin 83.59% this quarter) and grew PAT ~98% YoY to ₹736.73 Cr on ₹1,416.89 Cr revenue, carrying its own share of the NJHPS catch-up — the standalone/consolidated growth gap (~98% vs ~114%) reflects the JV profit share and the newly consolidated thermal/solar subsidiaries. The quarter tracks management's FY27 guidance from the last concall, which flagged "full commissioning of Buxar Thermal Power Plant" as a key capacity addition for the year — that unit is now live, as is its tariff order. Dhaulasidh Hydro and the solar pipeline management also flagged for FY27 remain pending. Consolidated leverage rose alongside the capex, with the debt-equity ratio at 2.25x versus 2.03x a year ago. Separately, the Board on 30 October 2026 gave in-principle approval to merge the wholly owned STPL into SJVN Limited, subject to government and regulatory approval — a structural step that would fold the currently loss-making thermal unit directly onto the parent's books. The next one to two quarters should show whether STPL's loss narrows as Buxar ramps toward fuller utilisation — that trajectory, more than the one-off tariff catch-ups, will determine whether consolidated margins stabilise or keep compressing. Progress on Dhaulasidh Hydro, the solar additions, and the STPL merger are the other concrete markers to track.