Chemicals maker BASF India's quarterly profit slumps on sluggish demand

SRF

14/05/2025 11:25

May 14 (Reuters) - Chemicals maker BASF India BASF.NS reported a 70.8% slump in fourth-quarter profit on Wednesday, dragged by sluggish demand for agrochemicals.

The Indian arm of Germany's BASF BASFn.DE said its profit for the three months ended March 31 fell to 471 million rupees ($5.5 million), from 1.62 billion rupees a year earlier.

The company posted a 5.2% fall in the sale of its products.

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KEY CONTEXT

     Agrochemical companies continued to experience demand volatility in both Indian and international markets, which weighed on overall volume growth for the sector in the quarter.

While heavy rains affected demand in the first half of fiscal 2025, analysts expect rainfall to be lower going forward as conditions shift from the La Niña weather phenomenon to neutral. Seed availability is also likely to improve in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, according to analysts.

Peer SRF Ltd SRFL.NS, which reported profit above estimates earlier this week, said it remained cautiously optimistic but flagged continued uncertainty due to a volatile global economy.

PEER COMPARISON

May 14 (Reuters) -

Valuation (next 12 months)
Estimates (next 12 months)
Analysts' sentiment
RIC
PE
EV/EBITDA
Revenue growth
Profit growth
Mean rating*
# of analysts
Stock to price target**
Div yield (%)
BASF India Ltd
BASF.NS
25.47
15.84
9.52
24.52
Strong Buy
1
0.85
0.33
Coromandel International Ltd
CORF.NS
32.44
20.46
7.33
29.46
Buy
9
1.02
0.49
Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals Corp Ltd
DPFE.NS
15.75
8.39
10.69
17.14
Buy
1
0.90
0.66
SRF Ltd
SRFL.NS
48.86
24.83
10.89
NULL
Hold
27
1.09
0.25

* 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

JANUARY-MARCH STOCK PERFORMANCE

-- All data from LSEG IBES

-- $1 = 85.2500 Indian rupees

BASF India JAN-MARCH https://tmsnrt.rs/42Rwfbo

 (Reporting by Yagnoseni Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Janane Venkatraman)

 ((Yagnoseni.Das@thomsonreuters.com;))