Oct 15 (Reuters) - India's Heritage Foods HEFI.NS reported an about 13% decline in second-quarter profit on Wednesday, as higher milk procurement prices crimped margins in its mainstay dairy segment.
The company reported a profit before tax of 584 million rupees ($6.63 million)compared to 674.7 million rupees a year ago. It recorded a one-time gain of 93.6 million rupees, lifting its after-tax profit.
Revenue for the quarter ended September 30 rose 9.1% to 11.13 billion rupees. However, expenses rose 10.6% 10.59 billion rupees, outstripping the rise in revenue.
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KEY CONTEXT
Heritage, a branded-products player in a largely unorganized dairy market, has been riding a profitable wave of urban consumers increasingly opting for pre-packaged dairy products.
In the second quarter, however, the company saw a "sharp increase" in milk procurement costs, due to muted supply and monsoon rains, it said. Milk procurement was down 2% year-on-year, leading to a lower consolidated profit in its mainstay dairy segment.
Heritage expects demand for its milk and value added items to accelerate in the third quarter ended December, benefitting from festive season consumption and the goods and services tax cuts.
PEER COMPARISON
Valuation (next 12 months)
Estimates (next 12 months)
Analysts' sentiment
RIC
PE
EV/EBITDA
Revenue growth (%)
Profit growth (%)
Mean rating*
No. of analysts
Stock to price target**
Div yield (%)
Heritage Foods
HEFI.NS
17.99
11.14
12.26
17.58
Buy
2
0.83
0.52
Dodla Dairy
DODL.NS
23.91
14.93
16.33
16.86
Strong Buy
3
0.81
0.31
Hatsun Agro Product
HAPL.NS
48.07
17.93
11.77
27.00
Hold
2
1.02
1.21
Parag Milk Foods
PAMF.NS
18.13
10.86
11.52
-13.15
Strong Buy
1
0.88
0.38
* The mean of analyst ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell
** The ratio of the stock's last close to analysts' mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT
JULY TO SEPTEMBER STOCK PERFORMANCE
($1 = 88.0950 Indian rupees)
Heritage Foods July to September Stock Performance https://tmsnrt.rs/3KzI7bs
(Reporting by Ananta Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)
((Ananta.agarwal@thomsonreuters.com;))