SRF falls 11% on disappointing Q4 results

The stock dipped 11% to Rs 1,997 after the company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 1.24 billion against an average analyst estimate of Rs 1.41 billion in March quarter.

SRF dipped 11% to Rs 1,997 on the BSE in early morning trade after the company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 1.24 billion against an average analyst estimates of Rs 1.41 billion for the quarter ended March 2018 (Q4FY18). The company had profit of Rs 1.29 billion in the same quarter year ago.

“The Company reported a marginal decrease of 4% in its consolidated net profit despite significant increase in depreciation, interest and tax rate due to change in cess in the Union Budget 2018,” SRF said in a press release.

The consolidated gross sales of the company grew by 22% from Rs 13.06 billion to Rs 15.90 billion in Q4FY18 when compared with corresponding period last year.

Commenting on the results, Managing Director, Ashish Bharat Ram said "While this has been a reasonably good quarter on the operations front, the recovery in the agrochemicals sector is taking longer than expected. We expect things to start looking up only towards the end of this calendar year."

At 10:11 am; the stock was trading 9% lower at Rs 2,024 on the BSE, as compared to 0.41% decline in the S&P BSE Sensex. The trading volumes on the counter more than doubled with a combined 596,748 shares changed hands on the BSE and NSE so far.