India's Blue Dart Express posts 49% drop in Q4 profit on higher expenses

Blue Dart Express

05/05/2023 14:35

BENGALURU, May 5 (Reuters) - Indian logistics services provider Blue Dart Express Ltd
 BLDT.NS  reported a drop in profit for the second quarter in a row on Friday on continued
pressure from higher expenses.
    The Deutsche Post-controlled  DPWGn.DE  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%.
    For further earnings highlights, click  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFWN37223R
    
    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

    <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Blue Dart shares vs peers    https://tmsnrt.rs/3p1bAjx
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
 (Reporting by Varun Vyas in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K and Janane Venkatraman
)
 ((varunvyas.hebbalalu@thomsonreuters.com;))