Excel Crop's bountiful harvest

Excel Crop Care is literally blossoming all anew on the bourses today. The stock hit a new high today at Rs.640, with volumes surging almost 2 times.

The stock hit a high on the back of its bountiful numbers for Q4FY14. The company ended the quarter with a net sales of Rs.211 crore, up 19% (YoY) and net profit was up 5.5 times at Rs.11 crore.

Three factors helped post this higher net profit given the fact that its operating profit had in fact gone flat at Rs.5 crore. First and foremost was the 61% drop in interest outgo at Rs.1.27 crore. Secondly, it had an exceptional gain of Rs.6.59 crore – this includes write back on the Endosulfan related inventory and the provision for penalty of Rs.2.92 crore. Last fiscal, the Competition Appellate Tribunal (CAT) pronounced an order on the company's appeal challenging the penalty of Rs 63.90 crore imposed by the Competition Commission of India on it and it had reduced the amount of the penalty to Rs 2.91 crore, which was a reduction of 90%. The company has appealed against this too but has nevertheless provided for the same. And thirdly, tax out for the quarter was down 50%.