Ather Energy Ltd has finally eked out a quarterly net profit. Investors are euphoric, taking the stock up as much as 22% in two days, moving closer to its all-time high of ₹1,744 hit on 1 September.
Operating revenue grew 63% year-on-year to ₹1,464 crore during the September quarter (Q2FY27), while net profit stood at ₹1.26 crore—the first positive quarterly bottom line reported by the electric two-wheeler maker.
Although commodity price pressures have sustained through FY27 so far, Ather turned Ebitda-profitable with a 0.8% margin versus a negative 2.7% in Q1. The Q2 Ebitda margin including other income stands at 5.1%, compared with 0.8% in Q1.
The turnaround has been led by operating leverage even as supply continued to cap growth. Against a 108% year-on-year growth in demand, as measured by pre-orders, registrations increased only 60% to 92,600 units. Production grew 45% to 98,400 units. The management acknowledged that about 18,000-20,000 units per month of retail demand remains unrealized.
Towards this, capacity expansion is underway in full swing. The enhancement of its Hosur facility is expected to be completed in Q3, while Phase 1 of the AURIC plant in Maharashtra is slated for Q4. Together, they are expected to more than double capacity from 420,000 units to 920,000 units by FY27-end. The long-term capacity target stands at 1.64 million units.