Bajaj Steel swings to Rs0.27 Cr consolidated net loss in Q1 FY27 as costs outpace 12% revenue growth
Bajaj Steel Industries reported consolidated revenue of Rs120.35 Cr for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, up 11.9% YoY from Rs107.53 Cr, but slipped to a consolidated net loss of Rs0.27 Cr against a profit of Rs7.40 Cr a year ago and Rs2.32 Cr in the preceding quarter (Q4 FY26). The standalone entity, which drives the bulk of the group's business, posted a steeper loss of Rs3.72 Cr on revenue of Rs107.52 Cr (+15.7% YoY), with standalone PBT itself already negative at -Rs3.72 Cr before any tax impact. No brokerage or consensus estimates for the company could be located — Bajaj Steel appears to carry no visible institutional coverage — so the print cannot be benchmarked against the street. Management has also issued no formal guidance on record (none in our database, none found via web search), so there is no prior outlook to grade this quarter against.
Operating margin (OPM) fell to 4.89% from 12.60% a year ago, and was roughly flat sequentially versus 4.81% in Q4 FY26; net margin (NPM) turned negative from +6.79% YoY and +1.90% in Q4 FY26. The compression traces mainly to cost of materials consumed rising faster than revenue — standalone material cost grew ~28.4% YoY versus 15.7% revenue growth — with depreciation up ~34% YoY on a larger asset base and finance cost up ~16% YoY. Employee costs diverge sharply by entity: standalone employee benefit expense jumped 83.8% YoY to Rs19.17 Cr (from Rs10.43 Cr), while consolidated employee cost rose just 2.0% YoY — implying a sharp drop in subsidiary-level staff costs, consistent with the company's disclosure on May 27, 2026 that it will wind up its Uganda subsidiary, Bajaj Steel Industries (U) Ltd. On the tax line, consolidated PBT stayed marginally positive at Rs0.88 Cr, but a Rs1.14 Cr current-tax charge tipped the bottom line into loss; standalone booked no tax given its pre-tax loss.
This is the first quarterly filing since the Uganda subsidiary wind-up was announced, and follows the FY26 audited results (with a Rs1 final dividend recommended) reported on the same date, May 27, 2026. The board meeting for this result was rescheduled from an earlier date to August 10, 2026, and the trading window had been closed since June 26, 2026 ahead of the results. No management press release accompanying the numbers was available to cross-check the company's own framing of the quarter, and the filing itself offers no forward commentary beyond the standard notes to accounts.
With consolidated PBT still positive and the loss driven largely by a tax charge that exceeded pre-tax profit, a return to consolidated profitability in Q2 FY27 hinges on the raw-material cost trend reversing and on how cleanly the Uganda subsidiary exit flows through the group P&L in coming quarters.
