Godrej Agrovet posts Q2 profit jump as monsoon recovery aids demand

India's Godrej Agrovet reported a near-47% jump in second-quarter profit on Friday as a pickup in rainfall in September uplifted the sale of its farm feed products.

The company's consolidated net profit rose to Rs 105 crore ($12.61 million) for the three months ended Sept. 30 from Rs 71.76 crore a year earlier.

A late monsoon revival aided sowing and other farm activities, pushing up sales volumes of Godrej Agrovet's products such as cattle, poultry and aqua feed.

Animal feed business forms half of the company's topline. Cattle and aqua feed volumes grew 16% and 15%, respectively, year-on-year, it said in a statement.

Total revenue rose 5% to Rs 2,571 crore, breaking the streak of slowing topline growth since the quarter ended March 2022.

Analysts had earlier flagged fears of a sluggish demand, on the back of the weakest monsoon in five years.

Godrej Agrovet's core profit margins in the quarter expanded to 8.3% from 6.5% a year earlier.

Analysts were betting on a rainfall-led improvement across all segments to drive margin expansion, despite stressed prices due to higher inventories and oversupply from China.

The company, which also operates in vegetable oil, dairy and crop protection businesses, saw its total expenses inch about 3.5%.

Shares of Godrej Agrovet closed 1.43% up on Friday ahead of the results.