Rallis India declines 5% as revenue slip 3% in September quarter

Shares of Rallis India were down 5 per cent at Rs 258.70 on the BSE in the intra-day trade on Tuesday after reported the company reported a disappointing July-September quarter (Q2FY21) result. The agrochemicals company reported 3 per cent year on year (YoY) decline in consolidated revenue at Rs 725 crore owing to poor sales from international market.

The consolidated net profit de-grew 2 per cent to Rs 83 crore as against Rs 85 crore in the year-ago quarter. EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) margins, however, were stable at 16.1 per cent.

The company witnessed a moderate quarter despite clocking a strong domestic performance. The crop care segment grew by 8 per cent YoY and seeds by 29 per cent. On the downside though, the international revenue came under pressure, recording a decline of 29 per cent. Analysts believe growth from the international market was partly impacted by realisation pressure in metribuzin along with lower offtake of PEKK under CRAMS portfolio.

The management said that despite Covid-19 challenges, the capex program and focus on new product introduction remain on course. "The collection focused initiatives have helped to continue strong performance on collections resulting in reduced working capital days to 65 from the previous year of 104 days for the company," it said.

Rallis India is a subsidiary of Tata Chemicals and a part of Tata Group. It is one of India's leading agro-sciences companies with the most comprehensive portfolio of products/solutions for Indian farmers.

In the past one month, the stock has underperformed the market by falling 14 per cent, as compared to 4.4 per cent gain in the S&P BSE Sensex. With today's decline, Rallis India has slipped 24 per cent from its all-time high level of Rs 340 touched on August 26, 2020.