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UPL Q1 Results: Profit Declines 36% But Meets Estimates

The agrochemical maker’s profit declined 36% sequentially to Rs 677 crore in the quarter ended June.

<div class="paragraphs"><p>A man holds a basket of fertilizer pellets. (Photographer: Taylor Weidman/Bloomberg)</p></div>
A man holds a basket of fertilizer pellets. (Photographer: Taylor Weidman/Bloomberg)

UPL Ltd.’s quarterly profit declined but met estimates, as a jump in sales in India offset the fall in other key markets.

The agrochemical maker’s profit declined 36% sequentially to Rs 677 crore in the quarter ended June, according to its exchange filing. That compares with the Rs 680.7-crore consensus estimate of analysts tracked by Bloomberg.

UPL’s revenue declined 33% quarter-on-quarter to Rs 8,515 crore, against the estimated Rs 8,554.9 crore.

Highlights (QoQ)

  • Operating profit declined 33% to Rs 1,774 crore, compared with the Rs 1,937.3-crore estimate.

  • Ebitda margin stood at 20.8% against 20.7%.

  • The company’s gross debt stood at Rs 25,099 crore compared to Rs 23,774 crore in the quarter ended March.

Revenue Across Geographies (QoQ)

  • Latin America: Declined 47.4% to Rs 2,507 crore.

  • India: Surged 124.9% to Rs 1,914 crore.

  • North America: Slumped 51.9% to Rs 1,221 crore.

  • Rest of World: Dropped 34.6% to Rs 1,350 crore.

  • Europe: Tumbled 40.9% to Rs 1,522 crore.

The company’s net profit and revenue, however, rose 23% and 9% year-on-year, respectively. The revenue was driven by 6% growth in volumes and price increase of 2%, it said in a separate filing. Its Ebitda grew 9% over the year earlier, supported by a favourable product mix, while realisations were partly offset by cost pressures, UPL said.

“We have delivered strong and robust performance owing to our differentiated offerings, digitisation, and collaborations across the food value chain,” Jai Shroff, chief executive officer at UPL, said.

Shares of UPL closed 1.79% lower before the results were announced, compared with a 0.10% drop in the benchmark Nifty 50 Index.