IRCTC Q2 Results: Railway PSU beats Street estimates with 30% jump in profit; margin shrinks by 100 bps

State-run Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC)—the only firm authorised by the Indian Railways to manage food services onboard trains and offer online railway ticket booking services—on Tuesday reported a standalone net profit of Rs 294.7 crore for the July-September period, beating analysts' estimates. With that, the company registered growth of 30.4 per cent in quarterly net profit on a year-on-year basis. 

The railway PSU's revenue for the second quarter of the current financial year increased 23.5 per cent to Rs 995.3 crore, according to a regulatory filing.

According to Zee Business research, IRCTC was estimated to report a quarterly net profit of Rs 281 crore and revenue of Rs 1,029 crore.

Its earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) improved by more than one-fifth to Rs 366.5 crore compared with the year-ago period, as against the analysts' expectations of Rs 357 crore. 

IRCTC's margin, a key measure of profitability, declined by 100 basis points (bps) on a year-on-year basis to 36.8 per cent. Zee Business analysts had pegged the company's margin for the September quarter at 34.7 per cent.  

While revenue from the catering business increased 29 per cent to Rs 431.5 crore for the September quarter, that from packaged drinking water Rail Neer rose 3.8 per cent to Rs 78 crore. Internet ticketing revenue rose 9.1 per cent to Rs 327.5 crore, and tourism revenue jumped 39 per cent to Rs 96.6 crore. Revenue from its State Teertha unit grew more than two times to Rs 65 crore, from Rs 30 crore a year ago. 

The IRCTC board declared a dividend of Rs 2.5 per share—a 125 per cent payout given the face value of Rs 2 per share. Read more on IRCTC dividend

IRCTC shares finished stronger by Rs 9.5, or 1.4 per cent, at Rs 680.9 apiece on BSE ahead of the earnings announcement. 

IRCTC is a Miniratna central public sector enterprise under the Ministry of Railways. 

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