Shares of CARE Ratings were locked in the upper circuit of 20 percent at Rs 365 per share on Wednesday after the company announced its September quarter results.

The company posted a nearly four-fold jump in its consolidated net profit at Rs 35.84 crore in Q2 on a quarter-on-quarter basis from Rs 9.7 crore in Q1. However, net profit for the quarter was marginally lower on a year-on-year basis.

The revenue also recovered in Q2, rising over 100 percent in Q2 at Rs 75.88 crore from Rs 37.38 crore in the previous quarter. The sales fell sharply in the June quarter to half the normal levels but the September quarter witnessed a bounce back to pre-COVID levels.

On a YoY basis, the rise in revenue was around 6 percent. It also reported an over 15 percent YoY rise in its operating profit at Rs 39 crore in Q2 due to better cost management.

“We are seeing sequential improvement in some of the high frequency monthly economic indicators which are on expected lines as we do expect quarterly GDP growth to improve over Q1 and turn marginally positive in Q4,” said Ajay Mahajan, MD & CEO of CARE Ratings.

The board has approved the payment of an interim dividend of Rs 8 per equity share of the face value of Rs 10 each for the financial year 2020-21.

In the regulatory filing, the firm added that the macro-economic environment, though improving since June due to the unlock measures, is still in the negative territory as evidenced by the growth in credit to manufacturing and services which are the quick indicators of economic activity.

For the first half (April-September) of 2020-21, it posted a 4 percent decline in consolidated profit after tax declined at Rs 47.94 crore and the operational revenue also fell 5 percent to Rs 113 crore in this period.