Indian poultry firm Venky's swings to profit in Q2 on lower costs

BENGALURU, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Poultry firm Venkys (India) (VENK.NS) returned to a profit in the second quarter on Tuesday, helped by lower expenses and better earnings per poultry unit sale.

The Pune, Maharashtra-based company reported a standalone profit of 340.9 million rupees ($4.09 million) in the three months to Sept. 30, from a loss of 205.6 million rupees a year earlier.

Realisations, or earnings per sales-volume unit, were higher from sales of day-old chicks and adult broiler birds -- birds reared for consumption, the company said.

Raw material costs fell 12.3% from a year earlier in the quarter, shrinking total expenses 11.8% to 8.76 billion rupees.

Input costs that affect realisations, feed ingredient costs including maize and soybean in the case of the companys poultry division, were down in the quarter.

The companys poultry and poultry products revenue rose 3.2%, constituting nearly 47% of total revenue.

Its oilseed segment, however, was hit by lower edible oil prices. Venkys sells edible oil obtained from processing oilseed such as soya, while the by-product de-oiled cake is sold or used as poultry feed. Revenue from its oilseed segment fell more than 13%.

Larger edible oil-making rival Adani Wilmar (ADAW.NS) posted a second straight quarterly loss last week, while farm feed producer Godrej Agrovets (GODE.NS) profit climbed.

Shares of Venkys climbed as much as 9.2% after the results, before paring some gains to last trade up 3.6%.

($1 = 83.2530 Indian rupees)