UPL Ltd.'s quarterly profit more than doubled in the March quarter, aided by growth in its two biggest markets—Latin America and India.
Net profit rose to Rs 617 crore in the quarter ended March from Rs 250 crore a year ago, according to its exchange filing. That compares with the Rs 811-crore consensus forecast of analysts tracked by Bloomberg.
The maker of fertilisers and agrochemicals incurred an exceptional loss of Rs 171 crore in the March quarter as part of costs related to litigation, severance and integration costs due to acquisition of Arysta LifeSciences. The company had incurred a similar exceptional item of Rs 299 crore in the quarter ended March 2019.
UPL's revenue rose 31% over the previous year to Rs 11,141 crore. That's against an estimated Rs 10,007 crore. Growth in top line was aided by a strong performance in most geographies barring Europe.
Revenue Performance In Various Geographies: (YoY)
- Latin America: 27% growth
- India: 36% growth
- North America: 45% growth
- Rest of world: 33% growth
- Europe: 2% contraction
Operating profit grew 54% over the previous year to Rs 2,169 crore, while Ebitda margin widened to 19.5% from 16.5% in the same period last year.
On Friday, UPL shares rose 1.56% to Rs 372.65 apiece on the NSE while the benchmark Nifty 50 shed 0.74% to end the day at 9,039.25 points. The company's board has recommended a divided of Rs 6 per equity share of face value of Rs 2 each.
Debt Picture
Net debt of the company stood at Rs 22,060 crore as of March compared with Rs 26,460 crore a year ago. UPL had last month forecast its debt at $2.9 billion as on March 31, down $900 million from a year earlier.
The company has cash and cash equivalents of $875 million as of March 2020.
Stock Performance
Shares of UPL have plunged more than 44% in the January-March period, its second-worst quarterly decline. The stock underperformed the Nifty 50 Index which slumped over 29% in the same period.
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