Astec LifeSciences tumbles 10% on loss in Q4; stock down 44% in six months

The company reported a net loss of Rs 5 crore for Q4FY23 as against a net profit of Rs 43.10 crore in a year ago period.

Shares of Astec LifeSciences tumbled over 10 per cent to hit a low of Rs 1,212 in Wednesday's intra-day trades after the company reported a net loss for the March quarter. 

At 09:45 AM, the stock was down 8.5 per cent at Rs 1,236 on trades of around 2,900 shares on the BSE as against the two-week average traded quantity of 638-odd shares. Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 0.4 per cent at 61,112.

The stock has been a significant underperformer in the last six months, and has shed as much as 44 per cent during this period when compared to 0.3 per cent gain in the benchmark index. 

Astec LifeSciences reported a net loss of Rs 5 crore for the quarter ended March 2023 as against a net profit of Rs 43.10 crore in the correspoding quarter a year ago. Total income plunged 53.5 per cent Year-on-Year (YoY) to Rs 129.50 crore from Rs 278.80 crore.

Earnings before depreciation, interest and taxes (EBITDA) slumped 89 per cent YoY to Rs 8 crore from Rs 72.30 crore.

For the full fiscal year FY23, consolidated net profit was down 71.5 per cent YoY at Rs 25.60 crore, while total income declined by 6.7 per cent to Rs 641.20 crore.

Topline as well as profitability was adversely impacted in Q4 by subdued demand for key enterprise products with further drop in realisations, the company said in its release.

"High level of channel inventories in India as well as key export markets, resultant demand-supply imbalance and subsequent correction in prices of key Active Ingredients (AI) continued to pose challenges for Indian Agrochemical sector, primarily in the second half of the year. Astec also witnessed unprecedented drop in volumes as well as realisations in H2FY23 and as a result, the company reported decline in topline and profitability in FY23 as compared to the previous year.", stated N B Godrej, chairman, of the company in the release.

Astec LifeSciences Life is engaged in the manufacturing of agrochemical active ingredients (technical), bulk, formulations and intermediate products. Astec has a healthy sales mix of both exports and domestic sale. 

Earlier in March 2023, ICRA had revised the outlook on long-term ratings of the company from 'Positive' to 'Stable'.