(Reuters) – Indian agricultural chemicals firm Coromandel International posted its first increase in profit in five quarters on Thursday, helped by a recovery in demand.
The company’s consolidated profit after tax more than doubled to 5.12 billion rupees ($59.1 million) in the third quarter ended Dec. 31, from 2.31 billion rupees a year earlier.
Revenue from operations rose about 27% to 69.35 billion rupees.
The company clocked a 30% growth in its revenue from its fertiliser and nutrients business, which brings in the lion’s share of overall revenue.
For further results highlights, click.
KEY CONTEXT
Analysts believe the “worst is over” for India’s agrochemical sector, with excess stocks and pricing pressures easing. They add that the industry is set for growth in 2025, recovering from global agrochemical destocking that squeezed chemical firms’ margins through lower sales, falling prices and inventory losses.
Indeed, Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals reported a more than four-fold jump in quarterly profit on Wednesday, helped by strong demand for its crop nutrition products and higher margins.
PEER COMPARISON
Valuation (next 12 Estimates (next 12 Analysts’ sentiment
months) months)
RIC PE EV/EBITD Revenue Profit Mean No. of Stock to Div
A growth (%) growth (%) rating* analyst price yield
s target** (%)
Coromandel 25.47 16.73 4.86 16.27 Buy 9 0.93 0.33
International
Deepak Fertilisers and 16.81 9.37 9.52 22.86 Buy 1 0.90 0.66
Petrochemicals
SRF 48.28 25.26 13.50 33.95 Hold 27 1.20 0.32
Sumitomo Chemical 40.33 30.67 17.28 24.08 Buy 7 0.85 0.18
India
* The mean of analysts’ ratings standardized 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
OCTOBER-DECEMBER STOCK PERFORMANCE
— All data from LSEG
— $1 = 86.5975 Indian rupees
(Reporting by Yagnoseni Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza)
