Data Patterns Q1: PAT falls 13% YoY to ₹22 Cr, margins squeezed; revenue +17% below plan

Data Patterns opened FY27 with a soft print: standalone revenue from operations rose 16.8% YoY to ₹116.03 Cr, but net profit fell 13.5% YoY to ₹22.06 Cr — the bottom line shrank even as the topline grew, the signature of margin compression. Net margin narrowed to 19.0% from 25.7% a year ago and operating margin slipped to ~27% from ~32%. The steep sequential decline (revenue −66%, PAT −84% off Q4's ₹344.85 Cr / ₹138.38 Cr) is a seasonality artifact — defence-electronics deliveries bunch into the Q4 year-end and Q1 is structurally the weakest quarter — and should not be read as fresh deterioration.

The squeeze sits on the cost lines, not the topline. Employee benefits rose 16.9% YoY to ₹42.53 Cr and other expenses jumped 63.5% to ₹17.61 Cr, both outpacing revenue; net material cost was ₹24.52 Cr (₹30.73 Cr consumed, offset by a ₹6.21 Cr inventory build), so gross held but operating leverage worked against the quarter at low seasonal volumes. There were no exceptional items this quarter, so the reported profit drop is clean and not distorted by one-offs — raw and adjusted YoY are the same.

The stock went into the print at ₹4,462, down 1.6% over the past month of trading.

For context: PAT has now risen for 3 consecutive quarters.

No exceptional items this quarter — standalone-only (no subsidiaries); EPS ₹3.94 vs ₹4.55 YoY (not annualised)

QIP proceeds ₹461.49 Cr of ₹487.74 Cr utilised as of 30 June 2026 — ₹26.25 Cr unutilised

Against management's own last-call guidance of 20–25% revenue growth with 38–40% EBITDA margins, Q1 undershot on both — 16.8% growth and ~27% margin. That doesn't invalidate the full-year target, since defence revenue is H2-weighted, but it raises the bar for the remaining quarters and for the "substantial order book accretion" management projected (FY26 closed with a ~₹926 Cr book). No firm Street consensus for this specific quarter surfaced, and management extracted no press-release commentary alongside the filing. The result lands amid a busy corporate calendar — a revised FY26 annual report (client data removed), a proposed ₹10 dividend, and a BRSR filing — none of which bear on the operating numbers. The Q1 earnings call is set for July 31; the order-book update and the margin path back toward the guided band are what to watch.