India’s Blue Dart posts fourth straight drop in quarterly profit

(Reuters) – Indian courier services provider Blue Dart Express on Friday posted a drop in profit for the fourth quarter in a row, hurt by increased expenses and muted demand.

The company, controlled by Deutsche Post, said consolidated net profit fell nearly 22% to 730.6 million rupees ($8.78 million) in the second quarter.

For further results highlights, click [click here]

WHY IT MATTERS

Logistic companies have been buffeted by a decline in freight rates, increased competition and higher prices of jet fuel, which accounts for a large part of their costs. Earlier this week, Mahindra Logistics posted its third straight quarterly loss.

Blue Dart added two Boeing 737 aircraft in fiscal 2023 to cater to tier-II and tier-III cities, a move, analysts said, would improve its margins.

PEERS COMPARISON

Valuation (next Estimates (next 12 Analysts’ sentiment

12 months) months)

RIC PE EV/EBIT Revenue Profit Mean # of analysts Stock to Div

DA growth growth rating* price yield

target** (%)

Blue Dart Express 37.60 16.07 9.54 15.16 Buy 5 0.90 0.45

Mahindra Logistics 36.29 7.47 15.02 133.45 Hold 10 0.86 0.68

VRL Logistics 24.77 11.62 17.07 -4.58 Strong 8 0.81 0.76

Buy

Container Corp of 30.00 18.20 11.91 15.64 Hold 12 0.97 1.57

India

* Mean of analysts’ ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell ** 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-SEPT STOCK PERFORMANCE

— All data from LSEG

— $1 = 83.2062 rupees

(Reporting by Anuran Sadhu in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza)