India's Godrej Agrovet posts higher Q1 profit as costs drop

By Biplob Kumar Das

BENGALURU (Reuters) - India's Godrej Agrovet Ltd reported a 27.3% rise in first-quarter profit on Tuesday, aided by lower costs and growth in its animal feed and crop protection businesses.

The company's consolidated net profit rose to 1.05 billion rupees ($12.8 million) in April-June, from 827.1 million rupees a year ago.

The easing in retail food inflation in the quarter and demand recovery in the agriculture sector aided profitability as raw material costs cooled off.

Godrej Agrovet's input costs fell 5% year-on-year, while total expenses reduced by 0.6%. This helped offset total revenue staying flat at 25.10 billion rupees.

Profit before interest and tax at the company's animal feed business more than doubled in the quarter, while profit at its crop protection business grew 78.5%.

While the animal feed business accounts for about half of total revenue, the crop protection business is a bigger profit contributor, at roughly 41%.

Its smallest business by either measure is vegetable oils, where profit slumped 67% in the quarter as a correction in selling prices more than offset higher sales volumes, the Godrej Group-owned firm said in a statement.

Shares of the company, which competes with Venky's (India) and Kaveri Seed among others, rose 0.4% on Tuesday.

They rose nearly 10% from April to June, sandwiched between Venky's 18% increase and Kaveri Seed's 6.7% gain. ($1 = 82.2230 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Biplob Kumar Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)