Apex Frozen Foods Ltd Q1 FY27 Results

Apex Frozen Foods reported standalone net profit of ₹21.67 Cr for Q1 FY27 (quarter ended June 30, 2026), up 138% YoY (₹9.10 Cr) and 178% QoQ (₹7.79 Cr), with EPS of ₹6.93 against ₹2.91 a year ago. Revenue from operations was essentially flat YoY at ₹256.53 Cr (-0.6%) versus ₹258.16 Cr in Q1 FY26, though it jumped 52.9% QoQ off a seasonally weak Q4 FY26 base of ₹167.82 Cr. On the surface this reads as a sharp margin-expansion quarter: net profit margin rose to 8.45% from 3.52% YoY (4.64% QoQ), and EBITDA margin (PBT + finance cost + depreciation, over revenue) improved to roughly 12.9% from ~7.1% YoY — nominally above management's own target of sustaining ~7% EBITDA margin with 10% upside, flagged on the February 2026 concall.

That headline needs a caveat. Roughly ₹18.83 Cr of the YoY increase in profit before tax traces to the 'changes in inventories of finished goods & biological assets' line, which credited ₹28.51 Cr to the P&L this quarter versus a ₹9.68 Cr credit a year ago — a larger build-up of unsold shrimp inventory flattered reported costs. That swing alone exceeds the entire ₹15.63 Cr YoY increase in PBT (₹28.59 Cr vs ₹12.95 Cr). Normalising for it (holding the inventory-change benefit at last year's level, same effective tax rate), PBT would have been about ₹9.76 Cr versus ₹12.95 Cr a year ago (down ~25%), and PAT roughly ₹7.40 Cr versus ₹9.10 Cr (down ~19%) — a decline rather than a jump. A lower effective tax rate (24.2% vs 29.8% YoY) also padded the reported PAT gain. No exceptional items were disclosed in any period, so this is a working-capital/inventory-valuation effect, not a one-off write-back — but it means headline profit growth overstates the underlying operating improvement, and whether it holds up depends on that inventory converting to sales in Q2 FY27.

The stock went into the print at ₹367.7, down 9.9% over the past month of trading.

For context: this is the highest quarterly PAT in the last 6 quarters on our records.

On guidance: management's February 2026 outlook called for revenue to grow to over ₹1,200 Cr within two years (aided by recovering US volumes post-tariff cuts and the India-EU FTA) while sustaining ~7% EBITDA margins with upside to 10%, and targeted 50% capacity utilisation by FY27. This quarter's flat YoY revenue (annualised run-rate ~₹1,026 Cr) shows no progress yet on the growth leg, even as the margin metric nominally screens ahead of target — though, as above, that figure is inventory-swing-assisted. No formal Street consensus for this specific quarter was found; broader analyst commentary points to a full-year FY27 PAT growth expectation of 15-20% (over FY26's ₹38.85 Cr) and management's own internal volume target of ~30% YoY, conditioned on stable trade/logistics — against which this quarter's flat value-terms revenue is not yet showing that growth. The company reiterated it has no subsidiaries, associates or JVs, so no consolidated statement was filed (Note 3). There were no other quarter-specific corporate developments (deals, capex, management changes) tied to these numbers; the FY26 final dividend of ₹2.50/share recommended on May 30, 2026 relates to the prior year, not this quarter.