India's Heritage Foods posts 60% surge in Q3 profit, stock rises

Heritage Foods

22/01/2025 09:47

Jan 22 (Reuters) - India's Heritage Foods  HEFI.NS  posted a 60% rise in third-quarter profit on Wednesday,
buoyed by strong demand for dairy products.
    The company's shares reversed course to trade 3% higher after the results.
    The dairy products maker's consolidated net profit stood at 430.5 million rupees ($5 million) in the three months
ended Dec. 31, 2024, from 269 million rupees a year ago.
    The company's revenue from operations climbed 10% on-year to 10.34 billion rupees, while total expenses rose 8% from
year-ago in the reported period.
    For further results highlights, click here.

KEY CONTEXT
    
Rising levels of income and a growing preference for healthier foods are driving the demand for dairy products in India,
analysts said, adding that the consumption of butter, curd, ice cream, cheese and yogurt is expected to be the primary
catalyst spurring this growth.
    Rivals Dodla Dairy  DODL.NS  and Hatsun Agro Products  HAPL.NS  have yet to report their third-quarter earnings.

PEER COMPARISON

    
                                  Valuation (next 12    Estimates (next 12          Analysts' sentiment             
                                       months)               months)                                            
                         RIC        PE      EV/EBITDA   Revenue     Profit      Mean      # of      Stock to      Div
                                                         growth     growth    rating*    analyst     price       yield
                                                                                            s       target**      (%)
   Heritage Foods      HEFI.NS     16.96      10.29      14.40      40.81    Strong Buy     2         0.72        0.57
     Dodla Dairy       DODL.NS     22.24      13.96      14.95      22.27    Strong Buy     3         0.75        0.56
 Hatsun Agro Product   HAPL.NS     46.14      19.62      12.93      34.53       Hold        2         1.03        0.95
  Parag Milk Foods     PAMF.NS     15.03      8.83        9.38        -      Strong Buy     1         0.66        0.29
 
    
* 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
    
OCTOBER-DECEMBER STOCK PERFORMANCE
    

-- All data from LSEG
-- $1 = 86.3425 Indian rupees

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HEFI Stock performance Oct-Dec    https://tmsnrt.rs/4hqsLkE
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 (Reporting by Ashna Teresa Britto in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy)
 ((AshnaTeresa.Britto@thomsonreuters.com;))