Pharma and chemicals firm Hikal Ltd on February 8 reported a 38 percent year-on-year fall in consolidated net profit at Rs 16 crore for the October-December quarter of the current financial year.
The company reported a profit of Rs 26 crore in the same period of the previous financial year.
Revenue came in at Rs 448 crore, down 17 percent from the year-ago quarter of Rs 540 crore.
The company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) came in at Rs 65 crore, down 13 percent from the same period a year ago. The EBITDA margin was at 14.5 percent up 70 basis points from the year-ago period.
Revenue from crop protection business was at Rs 180 crore and EBIT of Rs 22 crore for the reported quarter. Pharmaceutical sales stood at Rs 267 crore in Q3 FY24.
The company said there was a marginal increase in finance costs in view of interest rate hikes and an improvement in operating leverage sequentially.
"The softening of raw materials prices coupled with focused cost improvement, lean initiatives and a diversified product mix helped us to improve our margins sequentially on a QoQ basis," Jai Hiremath, Executive Chairman, Hikal Ltd. said in a press statement.
"Despite the prevailing global headwinds, we expect the market trajectory to change positively over the next few quarters and we remain steadfast in our commitment to drive long-term profitable and sustainable growth across our businesses," he added.
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