IRCTC Share Price In Focus: How Much Profits This Indian Railway Giant Is Likely To Earn In Q3FY24?

Indian Railways catering services provider, IRCTC will be in focus this week due to its Q3 results announcement for FY24. Unlike IRFC and RVNL who posted a bleak third quarterly earnings, IRCTC is expected to post a healthy earnings report card with double-digit growth across parameters on a year-on-year basis.

As per the regulatory filing, a meeting of the company's board of directors is scheduled to be held on Tuesday, February 13, 2024, inter alia to consider and approve the unaudited Financial Results of the Company for the quarter and nine months ended on December 31, 2023, after the same are reviewed by the Audit Committee.

For Q3FY24, Dolat Capital in its preview note said, "Expect robust growth of 7.5% QoQ led by better volumes due to seasonality. EBIT Margin to decline marginally by 17bps QoQ due to business mix change. PAT is expected to grow by 4.1% QoQ."

The brokerage expects IRCTC's revenue to come to around Rs 1,069.6 crore in Q3FY24, up by 7.5% QoQ and 16.5% YoY. While EBIT is seen at Rs 377 crore, up by 6.9% QoQ and 19.5% YoY. Net profit is estimated at Rs 306.6 crore in Q3FY24, up by 4.1% QoQ and 21.3% YoY.

Dolat further expects key commentary on 1) Outlook on Ticketing volumes, and 2) the Addition of new trains/tourism and other business opportunities during the Q3 results announcement day.

The PSU recorded a net profit of Rs 294.67 crores in the September Quarter of FY 2023-24 marking an increase of 30.36% from Rs 226.03 crores in Q2 of FY 2022-23. The net profit registered is the highest-ever profit registered by IRCTC in the history of IRCTC for this Quarter. Also, in the quarter, the PSU registered a strong financial performance with an increase in total revenue of 23.51% which stood at Rs 995.31 crores in the September Quarter of FY 2023-24 in comparison to Rs 805.80 crores in Q2 of FY 2022-23. Both EBITDA and PAT ended up at healthy margins of 28.54% and 30.36% respectively.

Ahead of Q3 results, on February 10, IRCTC announced that it has incorporated a wholly owned subsidiary Company in the name of 'IRCTC Payments Limited' for payment aggregator business.

Last week, the company signed a MoU with Govt of Uttarakhand through the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board (UTDB) for taking dedicated Bharat Gaurav Tourist Trains through IRCTC and operating the trains originating from different cities/Stations of the country to Uttarakhand. The objective is to bring Tourists from across India to visit the tourist places within Uttarakhand and to promote the lesser-known destinations in the state on tourism circuits.

Under the MoU, UTDB shall bear the operation cost of Bharat Gaurav Train and IRCTC shall design the tour itineraries, prepare the tour package consisting of the logistic cost, book of tour on the IRCTC Tourism portal and provide the services to the booked tourists during the operations of tour. The MoU has been signed initially for two years, which would be further extended for additional years.

IRCTC's share price stood at Rs 939.20 apiece, down by 0,6% on BSE with a market cap of Rs 75,136.00 crore.