(Reuters) -Indian logistics firm Blue Dart Express reported a 29.5% rise in second-quarter profit on Tuesday, aided by increasing demand for delivery services in the run-up to the festive season.
The company posted a consolidated net profit of 813.8 million rupees ($9.26 million), up from 628.4 million rupees last year.
Its revenue from operations rose 7% to 15.49 billion rupees, while total expenses grew 5.6%.
KEY CONTEXT:
The quarter marked the beginning of India’s festive period, which started in mid-September this year – a time when consumers splurge on everything from jewellery to electronics, fuelling demand for logistics services.
However, competition in the sector has intensified with companies like Bluedart and its peers Delhivery, VRL Logistics and Mahindra Logistics going head-to-head with the in-house logistics arms of e-commerce majors such as Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart.
Indian logistics companies have also been grappling with higher expenses, squeezed by higher freight costs and mounting competition.
PEER COMPARISON:
Valuation (next Estimates (next 12 Analysts’ sentiment
12 months) months)
RIC PE EV/EBITDA Revenue Profit Mean No. of Stock to Div
growth (%) growth (%) rating* analyst price yield
s target** (%)
Blue Dart Express 34.37 12.86 10.25 34.94 Buy 4 0.83 0.45
Delhivery 72.83 35.62 16.17 92.79 Buy 22 0.98 NULL
VRL Logistics 21.61 9.25 7.08 13.20 Strong 8 0.78 2.78
Buy
Mahindra Logistics 35.78 10.28 14.40 649.16 Hold 9 1.03 0.64
* 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
JULY TO SEPTEMBER STOCK PERFORMANCE
— All data from LSEG
($1 = 87.8950 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Mridula Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)
