Jain Irrigation Posts 6.8% Fall in Q1 Profit

New Delhi: Jain Irrigation on Monday reported a 6.8 per cent drop in consolidated net profit at Rs 18.76 crore for the first quarter of fiscal year 2015-16.

The micro-irrigation company had posted a net profit of Rs 20.13 crore for the corresponding period a year ago, it said in a filing to the BSE.

Total income of the company rose marginally to Rs 1,587.41 crore in the April-June 2015 quarter as against Rs 1,553.37 crore in the quarter ended June 2014.

Of that, revenue of Rs 1,034.53 crore was garnered from the sale of high-agri input products like micro-irrigation systems, Rs 537.97 crore from industrial products including plastic sheets, and Rs 14.91 crore from green energy.

However, the company's financial cost increased to Rs 166.31 crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal year from Rs 145.76 crore in the year-ago period.

"The current quarter shows good results with revenue growth and better margins despite extreme weather events which impacts our business significantly," Jain Irrigation managing director and CEO Anil Jain said.

He said agrarian distress continues in the country wherein climate change has compounded with six years low agriculture commodity prices cycle.

"We remain positive going forward as our product range and the business model helps farmers tackle climate change and also creates higher income farmers," Mr Jain said in a separate statement.

"We will further improve our working capital cycle in the remaining FY16 so as to achieve our target of deleveraging while growing business in double digits," he added.

The company has manufacturing plants at 28 locations across the globe. It manufactures micro-irrigation systems, PVC pipes, HDPE pipes, plastic sheets, agro-processed products, renewable energy solutions, among others.

Shares in Jain Irrigation, on Monday, ended 0.53 per cent higher at Rs 76 apiece on the BSE.