Revenue from operations rose 10% YoY to Rs 10,907 crore in the quarter ended 31 December 2024, driven by a 9% increase in volumes, a 5% increase in price, and a 4% decline due to FX, mainly in Brazil.
Profit before tax was at Rs 354 crore in the third quarter of FY25, compared with a loss before tax of Rs 1,666 crore reported in the same quarter a year ago.
EBITDA stood at Rs 2,163 crore in the December 2024 quarter, more than three times of EBITDA Rs 416 crore posted in Q3 FY24. EBITDA margin zoomed 1,560 bps YoY to 19.8% during the period under review.
The contribution margin surged by 1,380 bps YoY to 41% in the December 2024 quarter, compared to 27.2% in Q3 FY24, driven by an improved product mix, rebate normalization, and COGS improvement.
The company’s revenue from crop protection was at Rs 9,434 crore (up 11.06% YoY), seeds business income was Rs 1,009 crore (up 8.37% YoY), and non-agro stood at Rs 505 crore (up 2.88% YoY).
UPL's revenue from Europe rose by 28% YoY. Income from India climbed 28% YoY, followed by North America, up 59% YoY, and Latin America jumped 12% YoY during the period under review.
Income from the rest of the world declined 22% YoY during the quarter.
Net debt decreased by $745 million compared to last year, with a $363 million increase in net debt versus March 2024, significantly lower than the $1.7 billion increase observed over the same period last year.
Jai Shroff, chairman and group CEO, said, “We are seeing a strong bounce back versus last year, with normalization of business and recovery of volumes and prices. This has helped in regaining our contribution margins back to our previous higher levels.
Through strong focus, the team has done a commendable job in bringing down the working capital, resulting in a significant reduction of our net debt versus September 2024. With this strong performance, we are confident of delivering our EBITDA and free cash flow guidance for the full year.”
Mike Frank, CEO, UPL Corporation, said: “The global crop protection market continues to rebound as farmers and dealer buying patterns are now reset. Our volume growth of 14% in this past quarter demonstrates continued strong demand across regions and our ability to increase market share.
Through our focus on customers, driven by investments in marketing excellence, new launches, and differentiated solutions, we have improved our margins as compared to the last few quarters. We expect benefits from this to continue in Q4 as well as in the next financial year.”
UPL is principally engaged in the agrobusiness of production and sale of agrochemicals, field crops, and vegetable seeds, and the non-agrobusiness of production and sale of industrial chemicals, chemical intermediates, and specialty chemicals.