(Reuters) – Chemicals maker BASF India reported a 26.1% fall in third-quarter profit on Tuesday, hurt by higher input costs despite healthy demand.
The profit fell to 1.04 billion rupees ($11.95 million) for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2024, from 1.4 billion rupees a year earlier.
The company saw a 15% rise in its total expense, driven by a 7.9% rise in its raw materials cost.
The Indian arm of Germany’s BASF also said it will close its manufacturing unit at Dahej, located in western India, due to outdated technology, low utilization and high maintenance costs.
The closure, expected in the first half of the year, will result in fixed cost savings with minimal earnings impact, as the unit contributed to 0.3% of total revenue in 2024.
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KEY CONTEXT
Analysts believe the “worst is over” for India’s agrochemical sector as they expect the industry to grow in 2025, rebounding from global agrochemical destocking that had squeezed margins through lower sales, falling prices, and inventory losses. However, some firms are still experiencing the lingering effects.
The materials segment of BASF India, comprising performance materials and monomers for transportation, appliances and footwear, posted a 13.9% rise in revenue.
The agriculture solutions segment, including insecticides and herbicides, grew 25.2%.
PEER COMPARISON
Valuation (next 12 Estimates (next 12 Analysts’ sentiment
months) months)
RIC PE EV/EBITD Revenue Profit Mean # of Stock to Div
A growth (%) growth(%) rating* analyst price yield
s target** (%)
BASF India 21.48 13.73 9.79 22.46 Hold 1 0.74 0.35
Coromandel 25.40 16.60 8.75 -0.42 Buy 9 0.91 0.41
International
Deepak Fertilisers 13.99 7.87 11.35 24.17 Buy 1 0.79 0.75
and Petrochemicals
SRF 51.67 26.87 14.94 40.59 Hold 27 1.14 0.29
* The mean of analyst ratings standardised 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 IBES
— $1 = 87.0630 Indian rupees
(Reporting by Yagnoseni Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy and Vijay Kishore)
