UPL shares fall 8% as net loss widens in Q2

Shares of pesticides maker UPL Ltd ended 8% lower today after the firm reported its Q2 earnings. Net loss widened to Rs 443 crore in the last quarter against Rs 189 crore loss in Q2 of the previous fiscal. Revenue from operations rose 9 percent to Rs 11,090 crore, led by a 16 percent rise in volumes despite a 7 percent decline in price and flat currency exchange effects.

Contribution margin of the company in Q2 slipped 220 basis points to 37.7 percent due to pricing pressure, particularly in the crop protection segment. EBITDA came nearly flat at Rs 1,576 crore, with a 130 basis point drop in EBITDA margin to 14.2 percent.

UPL stock ended 7.62% lower at Rs 515.10 on Monday. Total 2.86 lakh shares of UPL changed hands amounting to a turnover of Rs 15.17 crore. Market cap of UPL fell to Rs 39,355 crore on BSE. UPL shares have a one-year beta of 1.2, indicating very high volatility during the period.        

In terms of technicals, the relative strength index (RSI) of UPL stands at 47.9, signaling it's trading neither in the overbought nor in the oversold zone. UPL shares are trading lower than the 5 day, 10 day, 20 day, 30 day, 50 day 100 day, 150 day and  200 day moving averages.

UPL is principally engaged in the agro business of production and sale of agrochemicals, field crops, vegetable seeds and non agro business of production and sale of industrial chemicals, chemical intermediates, speciality chemicals.