Vintage Coffee Q2 FY27: PAT +35% QoQ to ₹28.1 Cr; margins dip, YoY distorted by merger

Vintage Coffee and Beverages' consolidated Q2 FY27 (quarter ended September 30, 2026) revenue came in at ₹222.97 Cr and PAT at ₹28.06 Cr (EPS ₹1.92), up 38.5% and 35.0% respectively over the restated Q1 FY27 base (₹161.00 Cr / ₹20.79 Cr) — a genuine like-for-like comparison, since Q1 FY27 was itself restated to include Vintage Coffee Private Limited and Delecto Foods Private Limited, which amalgamated into the listed entity effective October 1, 2025 under an NCLT-sanctioned scheme (order dated 21 July 2026, filed with the RoC 31 August 2026). The year-ago quarter (Sept 2025, PAT ₹17.83 Cr) was NOT restated for the merger, so the headline YoY prints of +64.4% revenue and +57.3% PAT reflect a change in consolidation scope rather than organic growth — the company and its auditors explicitly flag the two periods as not comparable (Note 2 / Emphasis of Matter), and that caveat should travel with any YoY figure quoted from this result. No sell-side consensus for this specific quarter turned up in search; Nuvama's prior 'buy' initiation (₹250 target) is the only identified coverage and carries no published Q2 estimate, so vsStreet is unknown rather than a beat or miss. Margins eased sequentially even as volumes scaled: NPM slipped to 12.49% from 12.79% in Q1 FY27, and OPM to 18.91% from 19.62%, as depreciation (+22.4% QoQ to ₹3.45 Cr) and employee costs (+26.8% QoQ to ₹4.44 Cr) outran the 38.5% revenue growth — consistent with a business mid-ramp on new capacity rather than a cost blowout. The effective tax rate was 26.1% (₹9.91 Cr tax on ₹37.97 Cr PBT), tracking close to management's guided 'full 25% rate from Q4 FY26.' H1 FY27 operating cash flow turned positive at ₹51.16 Cr against an outflow of ₹23.96 Cr in H1 FY26 — in line with the prior concall's guidance for FY26 breakeven operating cash flow and positive generation thereafter. Capex matches the guided build-out: PPE and CWIP additions totalled ₹99.35 Cr in H1 FY27 (vs ₹34.89 Cr in H1 FY26), lifting CWIP to ₹130.16 Cr as of September 30, pointing toward management's stated targets of 11,000 MTPA capacity by March 2026 and 16,500 MTPA by end-FY27, including the new freeze-dried coffee line guided for 65-70% first-year utilization — this filing carries no production-volume disclosure, so utilization itself isn't verifiable from the P&L alone. Around the print, the board raised the borrowing limit to ₹1,000 Cr (October 20) to fund the capex, and promoters (including Chin Corp and Mohit Rathi & PACs) released pledged shares worth roughly ₹7.5 Cr and 4.18 Cr shares respectively (October 9) — a reduction in promoter-collateral risk heading into a debt-funded expansion phase. Post-amalgamation, the company also confirmed it now has no subsidiaries, meaning standalone and consolidated results are effectively identical going forward.