Den Networks Q2 FY27: operating margin falls to 4.3% even as PAT edges up 4.6% YoY
PAT +4.56% YoY · revenue -3.67% · margins compressing
₹232.56 Cr
-3.67% YoY
₹36.77 Cr
+4.56% YoY
12.54%
+0.5pp YoY
₹0.76
Den Networks' consolidated PAT (basis is primary here, as both statements exist) came in at ₹36.8 Cr for Q2 FY27, up 4.6% YoY from ₹35.2 Cr and 6.3% QoQ from ₹34.6 Cr, on consolidated revenue from operations of ₹232.6 Cr — down 3.7% YoY and 4.2% QoQ. Standalone tells a sharper story: standalone PAT rose 22.8% YoY to ₹28.4 Cr (from ₹23.1 Cr), a materially faster pace than the consolidated 4.6% — a gap traced to the Group's share of associates' losses widening to ₹2.84 Cr this quarter from ₹1.00 Cr a year ago, which drags on the consolidated number without touching the standalone one.
Q2 FY-2027 vs prior quarters
The headline PAT growth is not coming from operations. Operating margin (OPM) compressed to 4.3% this quarter from 7.9% a year ago and 5.2% last quarter, as content cost, employee expense and other operating costs stayed broadly flat even as revenue from operations fell. What cushioned the bottom line instead was other income, which rose to ₹60.7 Cr from ₹51.7 Cr a year ago and ₹55.4 Cr last quarter — consistent with the company's large investment/bank-deposit book (₹34.1 Cr of bank balances plus ₹35.7 Cr of investments on the consolidated balance sheet). Net profit margin accordingly ticked up to 12.5% from 12.0% YoY and 11.6% QoQ, a margin story driven by treasury income rather than the core cable-distribution and broadband business.
The stock went into the print at ₹27.15, up 0.5% over the past month of trading.
No prior management guidance or outlook is on record for this quarter, and no formal street/brokerage consensus estimates for Q2 FY27 could be located in a web search — Den Networks does not appear to carry active sell-side coverage with published previews for this quarter, so vsStreet and vsGuidance are both unknown rather than inferred. No management press release accompanying this result was available in the context to cross-check framing against the numbers. The company's own event record for the quarter shows only the standard results-cadence filings (board meeting notice, trading-window closure, results declaration) with no capex, deal, or management-change disclosures tied to this print.
W1
Topline trajectory: consolidated revenue from operations has now declined for two straight quarters (₹242.8 Cr → ₹232.6 Cr QoQ, -4.2%) — watch for stabilisation in Q3 FY27.
W2
Operating margin: OPM has more than halved from 7.9% (Q2 FY26) to 4.3% (Q2 FY27) — watch whether cost discipline on content/placement costs arrests the slide.
W3
Associates' drag: share of associates' loss widened to ₹2.84 Cr this quarter from ₹1.00 Cr a year ago — watch if this normalises, since it is the main source of the standalone-vs-consolidated PAT growth gap.
Consolidated PBT/PAT include share of associates' loss (₹2.84 Cr this quarter vs ₹1.00 Cr YoY) and NCI; consolidated PAT figure is total (7-9) i.e. owners (₹36.45 Cr) + NCI (₹0.32 Cr), matching the DB's historical netProfit convention. No exceptional/one-off items disclosed in either statement; sub-10-lakh rounding gaps in tax/PBT are from underlying decimal precision.