Shares of Godrej Agrovet Ltd. fell up to 4% on Friday, November 6, in response to its September quarter results, that were reported during the course of the trading session.
Revenue for the quarter stood at ₹2,995 crore, which implies a 16.7% growth from the ₹2,567.4 crore during the same quarter last year. Topline growth for the quarter was led by healthy growth seen in the Animal Nutrition, Oil Palm and the B2C foods segment, and by higher realizations and volumes.
Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) for the quarter declined 6.1% from last year to ₹200 crore from ₹213 crore.
EBITDA margin narrowed by 160 basis points to 6.7% from 8.3% last year. 120 basis points of that impact came from headwinds due to input cost inflation and El Nino. Strong performance of the Animal Nutrition business offset the EBITDA decline seen in the Crop Care, Dairy and Astec Lifesciences business.
For the September quarter, Godrej Agrovet’s net profit grew by 24.2% on a year-on-year basis to ₹115 crore.
MD & CEO Sunil Kataria called the results strong despite challenging macro economic environment, marked by El-Nino related weather disruptions, unprecedented geopolitical volatility and inflationary pressures.
Godrej Agrovet’s Animal Nutrition business revenue grew 14% during the quarter, while the oil palm and crop care businesses saw growth of 28% and 42% respectively. EBIT for the Animal Nutrition segment grew by 32% from last year, while margins expanded by 90 basis points to 6.7%, supported by a higher realizations mix, and operating efficiencies.
The company’s oil palm revenue grew by 28%, while fresh fruit bunch volumes grew 14% from last year. EBIT of this segment grew 4% while higher realizations were partly offset by lower OER due to drier conditions.
Crop care business saw 42% revenue growth on a low base but margins declined to 12.6%. A strategic focus of diversification to newer crop-care segments helped partially mitigate the EBIT decline during the quarter.
Shares of Godrej Agrovet are now trading 2.5% lower on Friday after the results announcement at ₹579.55. The stock is up only 2% so far this year. Over the last one month, the stock is down 11%.
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