Sharda Cropchem Q1: consolidated PAT -38% YoY to ₹88 Cr as forex tailwind fades; revenue up 9%

Sharda Cropchem opened FY27 with consolidated revenue of ₹1,073.8 Cr, up 9.0% YoY (from ₹984.8 Cr) on an 8.1% rise in agrochemicals revenue (₹914.9 Cr) and a 14.7% gain in non-agrochemicals (₹158.9 Cr). But consolidated PAT fell 38.4% to ₹88.0 Cr from ₹142.8 Cr, with net margin halving to 8.2% from 14.0% and EPS at ₹9.76 versus ₹15.83 a year ago. The sequential collapse (revenue -48%, PAT -72% QoQ) is pure seasonality — Q4 is the peak quarter for this agri-led business and management explicitly warns quarterly figures are not representative.

The YoY profit drop is almost entirely a forex-comparison effect: last year's Q1 carried a ₹73.1 Cr net foreign-exchange gain that shrank to just ₹7.5 Cr this quarter, a ~₹66 Cr adverse pre-tax swing. Strip that out and pre-tax profit actually rose ~15% YoY, and the agrochemicals segment result improved on a like-for-like basis — so the underlying operation is broadly steady, not deteriorating. A higher effective tax rate (25.7% vs 15.6%) pulled adjusted PAT back to roughly flat. Estimated EBITDA margin of ~17% sits below both the year-ago ~21.9% and management's own 18-20% FY27 guide.

The stock went into the print at ₹820.15, down 6.7% over the past month of trading.

The +9% topline tracks just under the low end of the 10-15% FY27 revenue-growth guidance management gave on the May concall, though the seasonality caveat softens that miss. Standalone numbers look far rosier — PAT ₹140.6 Cr, up 23.7% — but that is inflated by a ₹75.4 Cr dividend upstreamed from subsidiaries; the consolidated ₹88 Cr is the true earnings read, and the >3% divergence is worth flagging since readers will see both. No brokerage consensus is published for this mid-cap quarter, and no management commentary accompanied the filing — a concall follows on July 30. Results were approved at the July 29 board meeting; the ₹9/share final FY26 dividend was recommended earlier in May.