Bayer CropScience (BCSL) on Thursday reported a 34.18 percent decline in profit before exceptional items and tax (PBT) to Rs 106.1 crore for the quarter ended December 2020.
Bayer CropScience’s (BCSL) PBT stood at Rs 161.2 crore during the same quarter of 2019-20, Bayer CropScience said in a statement.
The revenue from operations grew by 7.51 percent to Rs 918.2 crore during the quarter under review, compared to Rs 854 crore in the year-ago period.
"Our third quarter was driven by double-digit sales growth in our Crop Protection products, especially in fungicides and herbicides. It was adversely affected by low commodity prices for corn in India, which caused a sizeable reduction in corn acreages, especially in the late corn segment and significantly lowered sales of our corn seeds,” Bayer CropScience Managing Director and CEO D Narain said.
Overall profitability for the third quarter was impacted due to the drop in high margin corn seed volumes, along with impacts driven by strong customer initiatives to widen the market reach of the crop protection portfolio, and a non-cash actuarial effect related to employee benefits, he added.
Narain further said Indian agriculture is seeing a rise in demand for high-quality agri-inputs that can help double farm incomes and enhance crop yields.
"Bayer is committed to support farmers with innovative products and solutions to accelerate their crop productivity and farm profitability and improve the livelihoods of rural farming communities,” he added.
Shares of Bayer CropScience on Thursday closed up 0.60 percent at Rs 5,536.95 apiece on BSE.