Astral Ltd.'s stock surged 9.2% to a high of Rs 1,598 apiece on Thursday after the company posted a 48% jump in its consolidated net profit for the first quarter of fiscal year 2027.
Astral posted a consolidated bottom-line of Rs 120 crore for the June quarter, compared with Rs 81.1 crore a year earlier.
Revenue increased 15.9% year-on-year to Rs 1,578 crore from Rs 1,361 crore. However, Ebitda declined 4.1% to Rs 283 crore from Rs 296 crore, while Ebitda margin contracted to 18% from 21.7% in the corresponding quarter last year.
As of 10:42 a.m., the stock pared some gains to trade nearly 7% higher at Rs 1,564.80, as against a 0.43% decline in the benchmark Nifty index.
The share price has risen 12.71% year-to-date and 21.12% in the last 12 months.
Management Commentary
Astral is confident that its UK business will recover soon after underperforming for the last two years, Hiranand Savlani, chief financial officer at Astral, told NDTV Profit.
Savlani said the UK business contributes to Astral's India operations in terms of technology. He expects higher value growth to support revenue and Ebitda growth going ahead, with value growth now outpacing volume growth after four years.
Astral is currently sticking to its volume growth guidance of 10%-15% for FY27 and will review it after the second quarter, Savlani said. Volume growth for the first four months of FY27 has been in double digits, while July volumes grew 40%.
Savlani said polymer prices were highly volatile at the start of the year but are expected to stabilise due to government policy. The company's Hyderabad unit is performing well, while all its new units contributed to growth during the quarter.
Astral is also gaining more regional partners than before, according to Savlani. The company has spent around Rs 1,500 crore on capital expenditure over the last five years.
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