Cochin Shipyard falls 8% as shipbuilding slips into loss

COCHINSHIP Limited (COCHINSHIP) fell as much as 8% to an intraday low of ₹1,186.50 on November 11, after its Q2 FY27 consolidated net profit halved to ₹53.77 crore from ₹107.53 crore. The results came out on November 10, after market hours. Revenue rose 11.7% to ₹1,249.2 crore, but the EBITDA margin shrank to 4.1%. The shipbuilding segment swung to an operating loss of ₹6.1 crore, from a profit of ₹149.7 crore a year ago. Profit also fell 64.5% from ₹151.45 crore in the June quarter. The board declared an interim dividend of ₹3 per share, with a November 16 record date. Ship repair was the bright spot. Its revenue rose to ₹466.05 crore from ₹359.6 crore, and operating profit more than doubled to ₹143.3 crore. That segment now makes up about 37% of revenue and carried the quarter. The gap with guidance is now wide. The company expects a full-year EBITDA margin of about 14%, down from 16% in FY26. With Q2 at just 4.1%, the second half needs a sharp recovery to meet that target. First-half profit is already down 30.5% at ₹205.22 crore. The company did not explain the shipbuilding loss, which raises questions about execution and pricing on existing contracts. That same execution risk applies across defence shipbuilders, including the large orders GRSE has recently won. Investors should watch shipbuilding margins in H2, progress towards the 14% EBITDA guidance, ship repair growth, and new order wins. The key question is whether Cochin Shipyard can fix shipbuilding profitability fast enough to rescue its full-year margins.