(Reuters) -Agrochemicals maker UPL reported a surge in fourth-quarter profit on Monday on strong demand in the North America market and softer raw material costs.
The company’s consolidated net profit rose to 8.96 billion rupees ($105.7 million) for the three months ended March 31, from 400 million rupees a year ago.
Revenue from operations rose 10.6% to 155.73 billion rupees.
A 5% drop in the cost of raw materials, such as phosphorus and sulphur derivatives, helped ease total expenses marginally.
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KEY CONTEXT
Strong volume recovery in herbicides and fungicides in the quarter helped the company register a 77% sales growth in the North America market, while growth in Latin America, its largest market, grew 2%, UPL said.
India’s agrochemical companies have seen muted growth over the past few quarters, primarily due to efforts to clear excess inventory built up amid subdued demand.
Analysts expect the sector’s fiscal 2026 earnings to be pressured by rising competition in international markets beyond the United States and weakening demand stemming from U.S.-imposed tariffs.
PEER COMPARISON
Valuation (next Estimates (next 12 months) Analysts’ sentiment
12 months)
RIC PE EV/EBITD Revenue Profit Mean # of Stock to Div yield
A growth (%) growth (%) rating* analysts price (%)
target**
UPL 17.92 9.43 8.67 148.39 Buy 20 1.01 0.14
Dhanuka Agritech 17.39 12.11 14.44 12.97 Buy 10 0.73 1.12
PI Industries 30.59 20.75 11.66 7.92 Buy 23 0.90 0.41
Rallis India 23.12 11.26 10.63 41.83 Sell 12 1.02 1.06
* The mean of analysts’ 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
— $1 = 84.7480 Indian rupees
(Reporting by Anuran Sadhu in Bengaluru; Editing by Eileen Soreng)
