Jain Irrigation drops 11%

Jain Irrigation posted a set of very disappointing numbers for Q4FY19. The company’s revenue was down 6% (YoY) at Rs.2583 crore and net profit slipped 45% at Rs.54 crore.

Operating profit was down 33% at Rs.249 crore and margins fell from 13.5% to 9.6%. All segments showed a drop in income – hi-tech agri inputs was down 2%, plastic was down 20%  and agro was the only sector which sector which showed a 5% growth.

The company stated that tight liquidity in rural markets, draught conditions in certain parts of India, slowdown due to code of conduct for general elections – affected the sales and collections from receivables.

Its consolidated net debt stands at Rs.4954 crore. It has stated that it plans to bring down the debt of the company and its subsidiaries by at least Rs.2000 crore over a period of 12 to 24 months. This would include a mix of corporate actions of demerger, divestment and equity infusion in our food and plastic business in India and overseas irrigation business.

The market pushed down the stock price opened with a loss of almost 2.5% at Rs.52.90 and went on to hit an intra day low at Rs.48.50, going down 11%.

Stock opened at a loss of -2.40%