India's SRF quarterly revenue misses view on weak demand for specialty chemicals, films; shares drop

SRF

20/01/2026 10:46

Jan 20 (Reuters) - Indian chemicals conglomerate SRF SRFL.NS posted a smaller-than-expected quarterly revenue rise, weighed by weak demand from its specialty chemicals and lower sales at its films and foils business, sending shares down 2.7%.

The company's revenue grew 6.3% to 37.13 billion Indian rupees ($408.3 million) in the October-December quarter, but fell short of analysts' expectations of 38.45 billion rupees, per data compiled by LSEG.

Shares of SRF, which were down 1.5% before the results, dropped as much as 4.4% before paring some losses.

Quarterly profit jumped nearly 60% during the quarter to 4.33 billion rupees, topping analysts' expectations of 4.18 billion rupees, helped by a tax provision write-back of 991.2 million rupees.

The profit also accounted for a one-time charge of 732.4 million rupees, tied to India's recently enacted labour code.

KEY CONTEXT

SRF's sales of specialty chemicals slowed as agrochemical and pharmaceutical clients deferred projects and purchase decisions due to tariffs imposed by the U.S. on imports.

Still, the company's chemicals business – its largest – posted a 22% quarterly revenue growth, helped by strong demand for its highly profitable refrigerants, whose prices have held firm. The chemicals business was the only segment to post higher revenue.

Its films and foils business – the second-largest revenue contributor – is also witnessing weak overseas sales, especially in the U.S., due to Washington's levies.

PEER COMPARISON

Estimates (next 12 months)
Analysts' sentiment
RIC
PE
EV/EBITDA
Revenue growth (%)
Profit growth (%)
Mean rating*
# of analysts
Stock to price target**
Div yield (%)
SRF Ltd
SRFL.NS
38.10
21.84
12.67
29.32
Hold
25
0.96
0.25
Coromandel International Ltd
CORF.NS
24.83
16.51
10.83
28.80
Buy
10
0.88
0.52
PI Industries Ltd
PIIL.NS
28.79
19.63
9.28
7.45
Hold
23
0.86
0.49
Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals Corp Ltd
DPFE.NS
12.72
7.45
14.40
26.29
Strong Buy
2
0.65
0.83

* 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 = 90.9330 Indian rupees

SRFL v Peers https://tmsnrt.rs/49vaSzX

(Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair)

((Nandan.Mandayam@thomsonreuters.com; Mobile: +91 9591011727;))