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BENGALURU - Indian logistics services provider Blue Dart Express Ltd reported a drop in profit for the second quarter in a row on Friday on continued pressure from higher expenses.

The Deutsche Post-controlled 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%.

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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