Godrej Agrovet on Tuesday reported an almost flat growth of 0.5 per cent in consolidated profit after tax (PAT) at Rs 112.2 crore for the second quarter ending September 30. The company had posted a PAT of Rs 111.7 crore in the same period of 2020-21, Godrej Agrovet said in a BSE filing.
The total income of the company increased by 25.4 per cent during the quarter under review to Rs 2,159.7 crore against Rs 1,722.6 crore a year ago.
''For Animal Feed business, it was one of the best quarterly performances with segment results growing by 21 per cent, supported by volume growth, the introduction of new products and R&D benefits realisation.
“Vegetable oil benefitted from higher oil prices and increased efficiencies and posted excellent segment results of Rs 78 crore for the second quarter, which was a 1.9x increase year-on-year,'' Godrej Agrovet Managing Director B S Yadav said.
Profitability of standalone crop protection business declined by 24 per cent due to erratic and inconsistent rainfall, which reduced application opportunities of agrochemicals, he added.
''Segment results were also impacted by inflation in raw material prices, which could not be absorbed resulting in lower margins. Astec Lifesciences EBITDA declined by 29.9 per cent primarily due to the closure of the plant on account of floods for about 15 days. Global container shortage limited the ability to ship goods timely, resulting in deferment of sales,'' he noted.
In the food businesses, higher input and procurement costs impacted the performance in the current quarter, Yadav said. ''Our dairy subsidiary, Creamline Dairy registered a lower EBITDA profit of Rs 4.1 crore due to an increase in the milk procurement costs. The performance of our poultry and poultry products business improved in the second quarter after a challenging first quarter as end-product prices improved. As a result, Godrej Tyson Foods registered an EBITDA of Rs 10.1 crore in Q2 FY22,'' he added.
The second wave of COVID-19 in Q1 FY22 had significantly impacted economic recovery seen in the preceding quarters, especially in rural India, which had much stricter lockdowns, Yadav said.
COVID-19 cases are declining steadily in Q2 FY22 and with the key economic indicators signalling a recovery in Q2 FY22, the company expects the second half of the year to be better for the businesses, he noted.
Shares of Godrej Agrovet on Tuesday closed at Rs 630.75 apiece, up 0.89 per cent on BSE.
