India's Deepak Fertilisers And Petrochemicals's Q4 profit falls on weak demand

Date:05-30-2024

Indian agricultural chemicals firm Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals (DPFE.NS), opens new tab posted nearly a 16% fall in profit on Wednesday, dragged by muted performance in its mainstay chemicals segment.

Net profit fell to 2.15 billion rupees ($25.81 million) during the three months ended March 31 from 2.55 billion rupees a year earlier. Revenue from operations fell about 25.4% to 20.86 billion rupees, marking the company's fourth consecutive quarter of decline.

The company's chemicals segment which deals in products catering to sectors such as pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, drugs and dye intermediates, among others, clocked a 9.4% drop in revenue.

Factors such as excessive inventory in the domestic market, water scarcity in southern India and unfavourable subsidies hit the performance of agrochemical and fertiliser companies in the fourth quarter.

Analysts, however, expect above-average monsoon rainfall and more subsidies for chemicals during the financial year 2025 would help change the fortunes of firms like Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals.