Steelcast Q2 FY27: revenue +29% YoY, but margin squeeze caps standalone PAT growth at just 2%

Steelcast's standalone Q2 FY27 (quarter ended September 30, 2026) revenue rose 29.4% YoY to ₹138.02 Cr from ₹106.65 Cr, and 10.6% sequentially from ₹124.82 Cr. But profit after tax of ₹23.70 Cr grew just 2.1% YoY from ₹23.21 Cr, and was flat QoQ against ₹23.71 Cr — a sharp divergence between topline and bottom-line growth that marks this as a margin-compression quarter rather than a clean growth beat. Basic EPS was ₹2.34, matching the prior quarter and barely ahead of ₹2.29 a year ago. The divergence sits squarely on costs: operating margin (EBITDA/revenue, excluding other income) fell to 24.47% from 28.33% a year ago and 25.63% last quarter, while net margin slipped to 16.94% from 20.99% YoY. Total expenses grew 35.6% YoY to ₹107.996 Cr, outpacing the 29.4% revenue growth. The steepest increases came in power, fuel and water charges (+63.2% YoY to ₹17.23 Cr) and cost of materials consumed (+56.4% YoY to ₹29.54 Cr) — both rising faster than revenue, consistent with cost pressure from the ramp toward management's targeted capacity utilization outpacing the price increases taken effective July 1 so far. Management's FY27 guidance called for EBITDA margins held in a 25-26% band (upside to 28.5-29% on operating leverage); this quarter's 24.47% OPM runs below that guided floor — a miss on margin guidance even though the 29.4% YoY revenue growth sits within the 25-30% volume-growth range guided in August. No street consensus estimates for this specific quarter turned up in public searches — Steelcast has thin brokerage coverage, with only scattered target-price trackers and no quarterly PAT/revenue previews located — so vsStreet is unknown. There was no exceptional item in either the current or year-ago quarter, so the YoY comparison is on a clean, like-for-like basis, and no separate management press release accompanied this filing beyond the standard regulatory disclosures. Alongside the results, the board declared a second interim dividend of ₹0.45 per share (record date November 20, 2026) and approved a further ₹31 Cr investment in the Greenfield foundry for an additional 3,250 tonnes of capacity, on top of the ₹120 Cr/8,500-tonne tranche approved in July — taking total planned capacity addition to 11,750 tonnes for a combined ₹151 Cr against an existing base of 29,000 tonnes. H1 FY27 revenue of ₹262.84 Cr (+23.2% YoY) and PAT of ₹47.41 Cr (+10.0% YoY) show the same pattern of profit growth trailing revenue growth over six months, keeping the FY27 margin trajectory against the guided 25-26% band — and whether full-year volume growth converges on the 25-30% range management set out last call — the key things to track into Q3.