Sumitomo Chemical shares rally 9% to hit 52-week high after Q4 profit jumps 52%

Sumitomo Chemical shares rallied as much as 9.3% on Tuesday to hit their 52-week high of ₹482 apiece on the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE). However, by 1:24 pm, the stock trimmed gains to trade nearly 4.56% higher at ₹461.1 apiece.

Sumitomo Chemical on Monday announced that its consolidated net profit jumped over 52% year-on-year to ₹109.70 crore in Q4FY24.

The company’s revenue from operations increased 3.5% to ₹674.2 crore during the quarter compared with the year-ago period.

Operating profit, or earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), showed a strong jump of 74% year-on-year to ₹140 crore during the March quarter. EBITDA margins also improved to 20.8% in Q4FY24 from 12.8% in Q4FY23.

For full fiscal 2023-24, the company’s performance failed to meet the mark. Revenue dropped 19% in FY24 to ₹2,844 crore compared with ₹3,511 crore in FY23. Profit after tax was down 26% to ₹370 crore from ₹502 crore in FY23.

Sumitomo said that the agro-solution sector faced several extraordinarily challenging situations in India and across the globe, mainly related to adverse weather, poor demand, inventory reductions, downward price volatility and supply chain disruptions along with several geopolitical situations.

“Most of these appear to be temporary one-time factors and the situation is expected to normalise in the short term,” it added.

“Our focus in FY25 would be towards recovering the revenues lost during the challenging situation of FY24, by way of more extensive demand generation and brand building efforts, especially for recently launched products in the last 2-3 years,” the company said in its investor presentation.

The company added that the ongoing initiatives strongly position the agrochemicals manufacturer for future growth in medium to long term.