STL posts record quarter: consolidated PAT ₹197 Cr, EBITDA margin 20.8% on AI-data-centre demand

Sterlite Technologies delivered its strongest quarter on record. Consolidated revenue rose ~87% YoY to ₹1,910 Cr (₹1,019 Cr in Q1 FY26) and ~33% QoQ from ₹1,441 Cr, while net profit reached ₹197 Cr versus ₹10 Cr a year ago and ₹59 Cr in Q4 FY26. Crucially, this is clean growth: neither Q1 FY27 nor the year-ago base carried exceptional items, so the ~20x YoY jump in PAT is underlying, not a one-off (the QoQ base of ₹59 Cr did include a ₹31 Cr impairment write-back, so the '3.3x QoQ' the company headlines is somewhat flattered). Net profit margin expanded to 10.3% from ~1.0% a year ago. The print was margin-led. EBITDA of ₹397 Cr took the margin to 20.8% — up from 13.7% YoY and 15.1% QoQ, and management's stated best in ~20 quarters — driven by a richer product mix and a sharply higher Data Center & Cloud contribution, which grew to 21% of revenue from roughly 1% in FY26. Geographically the mix tilted to the Americas (54% of revenue vs 39% in FY26), consistent with the AI-data-centre demand narrative. This puts the company ahead of its own prior guidance: on the Q4 FY26 call management targeted a 20% reported EBITDA margin by year-end and Net Debt/EBITDA below 1.2x — both were effectively met in the first quarter, with the balance sheet turning net debt-free (net cash ₹483 Cr) after the ₹1,500 Cr QIP, prompting an ICRA upgrade to AA (Stable) and a CRISIL outlook revision to 'Stable'. There is no formal quarterly street consensus on record for this name; the visible sell-side view (2 analysts) modelled FY27 revenue near ₹6,200–6,900 Cr — a run-rate this ₹1,910 Cr quarter already exceeds if sustained — so the result reads as tracking ahead of expectations. Order momentum underpins that: the open order book of ₹18,618 Cr is 2.4x YoY, Q1 intake of ₹13,100 Cr (1.7x the whole of FY26's intake) includes a landmark $1.11 bn (₹10,000+ Cr) hyperscaler optical-connectivity award spanning FY27–FY29 plus $100 Mn+ of Neuralis AI-DC orders. The quarter's corporate actions — the QIP (promoter stake down to 42.29%), the European patent win vs Fujikura, and the CONCAT US launch — all reinforce the AI-DC and connectivity thrust rather than distract from it. MD Ankit Agarwal framed it as 'the strongest quarter in STL's history,' and the reported numbers support that claim on both topline and margin.