BENGALURU (Reuters) – Indian logistics services provider Blue Dart Express Ltd reported a drop in profit for the second quarter in a row on Friday on continued pressure from higher expenses.
The Deutsche Post-controlled company’s consolidated net profit fell over 49% to 694.4 million rupees ($8.5 million) in the fourth quarter.
Blue Dart’s revenue rose over 4% in the quarter, while its total expenses rose over 14%.
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WHY IT MATTERS
Blue Dart, like other third-party logistics companies, rode a pandemic-led demand boom as people embraced shopping from their homes during the COVID lockdowns. However, they are now facing the double hit of high fuel costs and softening demand in the e-commerce segments.
Blue Dart’s revenue growth in the October-December quarter slowed to single-digits after two years of double-digit growth, which also pushed it to its first drop in profit in 10 quarters.
PEER COMPARISON
Valuation (next Estimates (next Analysts’ sentiment
12 months) 12 months)
RIC PE EV/EBITDA Revenue Profit Mean # of Stock to Div
growth growth rating analyst price yield
* s target** (%)
Blue Dart BLDT.NS 27.37 13.43 11.30 24.15 Buy 6 0.75 1.02
Express Ltd
Mahindra MALO.NS 44.83 8.41 18.91 88.99 Buy 12 0.85 0.54
Logistics
Ltd
VRL VRLL.NS 25.41 12.03 12.09 -18.09 Strong 8 0.89 1.41
Logistics Buy
Ltd
Container CCRI.NS 26.80 15.55 16.77 21.16 Buy 17 0.86 1.78
Corporation
of India
Ltd
* The mean of analyst ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell
** The ratio of the stock’s last close to analysts’ mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT
JAN-MARCH STOCK PERFORMANCE
— All data from Refinitiv
— $1 = 81.7480 Indian rupees
(Reporting by Varun Vyas in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K and Janane Venkatraman)