India's Bayer CropScience posts fall in Q3 profit on soft demand

• Revenue from Operations of ₹ 9,549 million

• Profit Before Tax of ₹ 1,242 million

Bayer CropScience Limited (BSE: 506285) announced its unaudited results for the quarter and nine months ended December 31, 2023.

In the third quarter (Q3) of Financial Year (FY) 2023-24, Bayer CropScience Limited (BCSL) earned Revenue from Operations of ₹ 9,549 million, as compared to ₹ 10,379 million in the corresponding period of FY 2022-23. Profit Before Tax (Before Exceptional Items) stood at ₹ 1,242 million, compared to ₹ 829 million in the corresponding period of FY 2022-23. Profit Before Tax (After Exceptional Items) stood at ₹ 1,242 million as compared to ₹ 1,836 million in the corresponding period of FY 2022-23.

For the nine months ended December 31, 2023, BCSL reported Revenue from Operations of ₹ 43,117 million, compared to ₹ 41,572 million for the corresponding period in FY 2022-23. Profit Before Tax (Before Exceptional Items) for the nine months ended December 31, 2023, stood at ₹ 8,360 million, compared to ₹ 6,942 million for the corresponding period in FY 2022-23. Profit Before Tax (After Exceptional Items) stood at ₹ 8,360 million as compared to ₹ 7,949 million in the corresponding period of FY 2022-23.

Commenting on the quarterly performance, Simon Wiebusch, Vice Chairman/Managing Director and CEO, BCSL said, ″An erratic monsoon led to low water reservoir levels. The resulting crop shifts and missed sprays, had an unfavorable impact on our quarterly sales performance owing to lower volumes and sales returns. While Crop Protection liquidation has been sluggish on the back of the weak season, we actively managed rebates and discounts and thus maintained our margins to a large extent. A more diversified corn footprint supported seeds sales. We continue to steadily expand our efforts in support of the Government’s collectivization endeavors by reaching out to 3000+ Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), of which 10 belong to women, with BCSL supporting the creation of over 110 FPOs in the country. Also, we continue to focus on Better Life Farming as our extended smallholder farmer go to market.″

Simon Britsch, Chief Financial Officer, BCSL said, ″We continued our efforts and focused on optimizing our operating expenses, achieving sizable efficiencies in the past 9 months. We were thus able to expand our profit margins in a difficult market environment. While managing operating expenses, we continue to make significant investments into future growth and market reach.″