India's UPL posts wider Q2 loss on lower agrochemical prices

UPL Ltd. (NSE: UPL & BSE: 512070, LSE: UPLL), reported financial results for the second quarter ended September 30, 2024.

Financial Performance Update

• Revenue for the second quarter was up by 9%, driven by 16% increase in volumes, 7% decline in price and near flat Fx.

• Contribution margins primarily impacted by overall pricing pressure in crop protection segment

• Differentiated and sustainable portfolio continued to outperform; share of this portfolio as % of crop protection segment increased from ~39% in Q2FY24 to ~42% in Q2FY25

• SG&A impacted by $16 million due to ECLs and write-offs, mainly in Latin America

• Seeds business had a margin accretive growth this quarter, driven by favorable pricing in grain sorghum and corn. The strategic investments UPL has made are expected to yield favorable results in the second half of the year.

• Net Debt increased by $627 million in Q2FY25 vs year end March 24. The corresponding increase last year was $1,639 million.

Commenting on the Q2FY25 performance, Jai Shroff, Chairman and Group CEO, said ″Our volume growth continues, and we are on the path to achieving our EBITDA and net debt guidance levels.

With our fundamentals intact, we saw robust volume growth in our global crop protection business. In India, there was an overall positive momentum. Pushing sales closer to application season has optimized our working capital requirements and minimized likelihood of sales returns. We will continue to focus on enforcing stricter credit and inventory norms to enhance cash flows.

On our global seeds platform, Advanta, we are back on track after some headwinds in Q1. Our growth this quarter was margin accretive, driven by favorable pricing in grain sorghum and corn. The continued business momentum is expected to yield favorable results in the second half of the year.″

Commenting on the Q2FY25 performance, Mike Frank, CEO, UPL Corporation Ltd., said: ″The fundamentals in the global crop protection market continue to remain strong. We continue to see robust dealer and farmgate demand across most regions for our products, as seen in our 13% volume growth this past quarter. Leading this growth was our fungicide segment, led by mancozeb products globally, as well as other premium fungicides in Europe.

We had continued growth in our BioSolutions NPP business, which grew 10%. Specifically, our biocontrol offerings in Latin America and Europe have received strong customer demand. Additionally, NPP was supported by biostimulant volumes in Brazil.

Aligned with our strategy, we continue to improve product mix from differentiated and sustainable segments, which has increased from ~35% last year to ~37% now.

Contribution margin compressed by ~150 bps vs Q2FY24, primarily due to pricing pressure, as well as foreign exchange impact in key countries, such as Brazil.

On SG&A, we faced challenges related to ECLs and write-offs impacting our EBITDA for the quarter, which came in 9% lower than last year Q2.″

Regional Performance Update

UPL continues to maintain an overall positive outlook for FY25 and expect accretive margins in the second half of the year. UPL's focus remains on overall cash generation, and UPL is optimizing its inventories and other working capital items.