(Reuters) – Indian sugar maker E.I.D.-Parry reported a wider third-quarter loss on Tuesday, hurt by lower prices and higher expenses.
Its loss before exceptional items and tax stood at 785.6 million rupees ($9 million) in the three months ended December 31, compared with a loss of 204 million rupees a year earlier.
The company incurred a one-time charge worth 768.3 million rupees in the quarter, related to impairment of investment in its unit.
Revenue from operations increased 27% to 8.48 billion rupees, while expenses surged 34% to 9.41 billion rupees.
For further results highlights, click (Full Story).
KEY CONTEXT
Sugar prices in India fell to an 18-month low in the quarter due to ample supplies, prompting the industry to demand revision in minimum selling price to limit losses and improve margins, thereby ensuring timely payments to the farmers, Reuters reported last year.
In January, the government allowed higher exports of the product to help revive sugar prices.
Analysts at Elara Capital said E.I.D.-Parry’s sales in the October-December period dropped 7% on-year, but increased 27% sequentially on festival season demand.
PEER COMPARISON
Valuation (next 12 Estimates (next 12 Analysts’ sentiment
months) months)
RIC PE EV/EBITDA Revenue Profit Mean No. of Stock to Div
growth (%) growth rating* analyst price yield
(%) s target** (%)
E I D-Parry (India) 11.05 4.44 10.67 NULL Strong 1 0.90 0.94
Buy
Dalmia Bharat Sugar 9.04 5.24 9.69 15.55 Hold 1 0.53 1.39
and Industries
Dwarikesh Sugar 12.12 5.32 18.90 91.55 Buy 2 0.79 NULL
Industries
Balrampur Chini 15.32 9.61 11.61 26.96 Strong 5 0.68 0.99
Mills Buy
* Mean of analysts’ ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell
** 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 = 86.6970 rupees
(Reporting by Manvi Pant in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)
