Railway sector Q1 review: Average PAT decline 16% QoQ, revenue down 24%. What are your cues?
Railway sector companies reported an average decline of nearly 16% in their net profits on quarter-on-quarter basis over the three-month period ended June 30, 2024, while the revenue witnessed a 24% average sequential plunge in the said quarter. An ETMarkets analysis further revealed that the stocks have derailed somewhat in the last one month, falling by up to 32% from their 52-week peak after running on a fast track for more than a year.
We analysed results of 13 companies in the railway sector which include BEML, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), Container Corporation of India, Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC), Ircon International, Jupiter Wagons, Oriental Rail Infrastructure, Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), RailTel Corporation of India, Ramkrishna Forgings, RITES, Texmaco Rail & Engineering and Titagarh Rail Systems.
In the April-June quarter, 10 companies reported a fall in their profit after tax while two reported a growth. BEML reported a net loss of Rs 70 crore versus profit of Rs 257 crore in the March quarter. Its loss, however, narrowed on the year-on-year basis from Rs 75% in Q1FY24.
State-run RVNL reported the highest QoQ decline in its PAT at 49% and was followed by RailTel and RITES which posted 37% and 34% fall, respectively. IRFC posted an 8% QoQ PAT drop in Q1FY25 while the rest also fell in double-digits.
On the revenue front, all 13 companies reported a sequential climbdown, with steepest fall witnessed in BEML at 58%. The next in line are Ircon and RVNL
