Bayer CropScience Ltd has reported a 31 per cent decline in net profits for the December quarter on erratic monsoons impacting its sales of agrochemicals.
The agrochemical major reported a net profit of ₹93.1 crore for Q3FY24 as compared to profit ₹134.5 crore in the same period last year. Revenues from operations were down by eight per cent at ₹954.9 crore during December 2023 over same period last year’s ₹1,037.9 crore.
Profit before tax (before exceptional items) stood at ₹124.2 crore, compared to ₹82.9 crore in the corresponding period of FY 2022-23. Profit before tax (after exceptional items) stood at ₹124.2 crore as compared to ₹183.6 crore in the same period last year.
For the nine months ended December 31, 2023, BCSL reported revenue from operations of ₹4,311.7 crore, compared to Rs 4,157.2 crore for the same period last year. The company reported a profit of ₹644.5 crore for Q3FY24 over same period last year’s ₹599.7 crore.
Profits for the quarter and nine months ended December 31, 2022 included proceeds from the sale of its Environmental Science Business (Divested Products) which offers solutions to control pests, diseases, and weeds in non-agricultural areas to ‘2022 ES Discovery India Private Limited’ (‘ESDIPL’) on a slump sale basis.
Simon Wiebusch, Vice Chairman/Managing Director and CEO, BCSL said, “An erratic monsoon led to low water reservoir levels. The resulting crop shifts and missed sprays, had an unfavorable impact on our quarterly sales performance owing to lower volumes and sales returns. While Crop protection liquidation has been sluggish on the back of the weak season, we actively managed rebates and discounts and thus maintained our margins to a large extent. A more diversified corn footprint supported seeds sales.”
“We continue to steadily expand our efforts in support of the Government’s collectivization endeavors by reaching out to over 3000 Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), of which 10 belong to women, with BCSL supporting the creation of over 110 FPOs in the country. Also, we continue to focus on Better Life Farming as our extended smallholder farmer go to market,” Weibusch said in a statement.
Simon Britsch, Chief Financial Officer, BCSL said, “We continued our efforts and focused on optimizing our operating expenses, achieving sizable efficiencies in the past 9 months. We were thus able to expand our profit margins in a difficult market environment. While managing operating expenses, we continue to make significant investments into future growth and market reach.”
Bayer CropScience’s shares gained 1.22 per cent to close at ₹6,064.35 on the BSE on Thursday.
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