Profit before exceptional items and tax slumped to Rs 135 crore as compared to Rs 1,420 crore reported in the same quarter a year ago.

Exceptional items stood at Rs 105 crore in Q4 FY24 as compared to Rs 29 crore recorded in Q4 FY23.

EBITDA slipped 36% to Rs 1,933 crore in the March 2024 quarter from Rs 3,033 crore reported in Q4 FY23. EBITDA margin dropped by 458 bps YoY to 13.7% during the period under review.

Contribution Margin tumbled 500 bps on YoY basis to 29.4% in March 2024 quarter, primarily impacted by the liquidation of high-cost inventory and higher rebates to support the channel.

The company’s revenue from crop protection was at Rs 15,080 crore (down 17.75% YoY) and non agro stood at Rs 621 crore (down 9.21% YoY). However, income from seeds business was at Rs 1,130 crore (up 30.33% YoY).

UPL's revenue from Europe rose by 10% YoY. Income from North America declined 49% YoY followed by India, down 24% YoY and Latin America shed 23% YoY during the period under review.

Income from rest of the world increased 21% YoY during the quarter.

During the quarter, net debt increased by $602 million vs previous year to $2.66 billion at the end of FY24 due to reduced factoring, and cash flow impact of decline in profitability. The net debt stood at $2,659 in FY24, as compared to $2,057 recorded in FY23.

Mike Frank, CEO, UPL Corporation, said, “We delivered significantly improved financial results in Q4 versus the two preceding quarters, inspite of the prevailing volatile and challenging market conditions.

As compared to Q3, volumes recovered well and were in-line with LY, largely led by the strong performance of our high-margin differentiated and sustainable portfolio, which contributed 36% of crop protection revenue vs 29% LY. Our recent launches of Evolution, Feroce and Shenzi did exceedingly well, growing volumes by >50%.

In addition, Europe and Rest of the World regions, had a strong performance posting double-digit growth. Contribution margins were in-line with last year, adjusted for the transitory impact of high-cost inventory liquidation and higher rebates to support channel partners. Our cost optimization efforts paid off as we reduced Q4 SG&A expenses by 17% YoY.

Furthermore, Advanta, our global seeds platform continued to see robust traction delivering revenue growth of 34% and 38% respectively for the quarter.

As we look ahead to FY25, we expect a return to growth and normalization in margins driven by the agchem market returning to normality. Further, our foremost priority remains to deleverage our balance sheet which we plan to achieve through operational cash flows, completion of rights issue, and pursuing capital raise opportunities within our platforms.”

Meanwhile, the board has recommended dividend of Re. 1 per equity share, subject to approval of members.

UPL is principally engaged in the agro business of production and sale of agrochemicals, field crops, vegetable seeds and non agro business of production and sale of industrial chemicals, chemical intermediates, speciality chemicals.

The scrip surged 6.45% to end at Rs 534.35 on the BSE.