** Shares of India's Manappuram Finance MNFL.NS drop 2.88% to 288.60 rupees

** Gold-loan financier reported 14.5% y/y drop in Q3 profit to 2.41 billion rupees ($26.22 million), due to slowdown in its struggling microfinance segment

** Jefferies ("hold", PT: 285 rupees) says lower NIMs and higher provisions drove Q3 profit miss, even as gold loan growth remained strong and management rolled out franchise-strengthening initiatives

** Brokerage PhillipCapital (PT: 260 rupees) upgrades to "neutral" from "sell" citing improving gold loan momentum, management-led restructuring, despite Q3 profit fall on higher costs and microfinance stress

** Stock rated "hold" on avg by 15 analysts, median PT at 295 rupees -- data compiled by LSEG

** MNFL gained ~64% in 2025, stock down about 3.8% in Jan

($1 = 91.9020 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Surbhi Misra in Bengaluru)

((Surbhi.Misra@thomsonreuters.com | X: https://twitter.com/SurbhiMisra_ |;))