Deepak Fertilizers hits two-year low; down 20% in 1-week on weak Q2 results

The stock is down 5% at Rs 167 today, trading at its lowest level since August 19, 2016, on BSE.

Shares of Deepak Fertilisers & Chemicals hit two year low of Rs 167, down 5% on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), falling  20% in past one week, after it reported a 56% drop in net profit at Rs 190 million in September 2018 quarter (Q2FY19).

The stock was trading at its lowest level since August 19, 2016. It tanked 62% from its 52-week high of Rs 437 hit on January 5, 2018, on the BSE in intra-day trade.

It had reported a profit of Rs 430 million in a year ago quarter. The company said profitability was adversely impacted due to rupee depreciation and a significant rise in raw material prices.

The profitability of Iso Propyl Alcohol (IPA) remained under pressure due to inability to pass through higher raw material cost (refinery-grade propylene or RGP up by around 47% y-o-y ) on account of import price parity. Higher global prices of phosphoric acid and LNG and a lag in transferring its impact in the new MRPs have led to the underperformance of the segment in the quarter. Lower availability of phosphoric acid also led to lower capacity utilization, it added.

The company’s total operating revenue, however, grew by 44% to Rs 17.69 billion in Q2FY19, primarily driven by improved performance of TAN and specialty fertilizers businesses. Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) margin declined to 6.5% from 11.8% in the previous year quarter.

The company expected to improve the capacity utilization of fertilizer plant by 45-50% in H2FY19 as compared to H1FY19, due to the availability of phosphoric acid which is expected to improve in second half of current fiscal as the acid from alternate sources have been successfully tested in the plant.

At 02:01 pm, Deepak Fertilizers was trading 4% lower at Rs 168 on BSE, as compared to 0.57% decline in the S&P BSE Sensex. A combined 334,369 equity shares changed hands on the counter on the BSE and NSE.