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Bayer Cropscience, the Indian unit of German drug and pesticide maker Bayer AG, reported a more than 37% jump in quarterly profit on Friday as rainfall recovery in September aided the sale of its farm products.

Profit rose to 2.23 billion rupees ($26.8 million) during the three months ended Sept. 30 from 1.63 billion rupees a year earlier.

Revenue from operations grew more than 11% to 16.17 billion rupees.

The firm also declared a dividend of 105 rupees per share.

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KEY CONTEXT

A revival of seasonal rainfall in September aided sowing and other farm activities, uplifting demand for the company's products, which include herbicides and pesticides, analysts said.

Unsold stock from the last winter crop season and Chinese oversupply have kept product prices under check, analysts added, aiding volumes for agribusinesses.

The company said a "sustained focus on maintaining optimal channel inventory" helped growth in profit before tax.

However, rival UPL, last month, swung to a quarterly loss as dealers emptied their inventories amid a softer demand environment.

PEER COMPARISON

Valuation (next 12 Estimates (next 12 Analysts' sentiment

months) months)

RIC PE EV/EBITDA Revenue profit Mean # of Stock to Div

growth growth rating analyst price yield

s target (%)

Bayer Cropscience 27.64 18.97 8.87 11.29 HOLD 7 0.95 2.34

Ltd

PI Industries Ltd 30.46 21.87 21.19 20.45 BUY 23 0.81 0.29

Rallis India Ltd 23.16 11.54 5.48 44.16 SELL 14 1.05 1.14

UPL Ltd 11.25 7.05 2.40 8.54 BUY 25 0.78 1.85

* The mean of analyst ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell

** The ratio of the stock's last close to analysts' mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT

JULY-SEPTEMBER STOCK PERFORMANCE

-- All data from LSEG

-- $1 = 83.2625 Indian rupees