Sunidhi Securities maintains a `BUY` on Nagarjuna Argichem, with a price target of Rs 180 as against the current market price (CMP) of Rs 150 (Sep. 03, 2009).

NACL belongs to the Hyderabad based Nagarjuna group of companies having interests in fertilizers, construction and crop protection.

During Q1FY10, although sales were higher by 1% to Rs 1.3 billion, net profit advanced by 31% to Rs 114 million. OP & NP stood at 18.5% and 8.3% as against 16.7% and 6.4% respectively in FY08. During FY09 on yoy basis sales surged by 47% to Rs 6.05 billion and net profit climbed 91% to Rs 493 million. OPM advanced 19.5% from 17.5% and NPM to 8.1% from 6.3%.

NAL`s growing global presence is reflected in its exports. Today Nagarjuna is among the few companies in India exporting pesticide technicals and formulations to as many as 15 countries including Argentina, Australia, Greece, Italy, Japan, Oman, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Vietnam and Yemen. Exports constitute 50% of the revenue.

The company is setting up a Greenfield manufacturing facility with an outlay of about Rs 1.5 billion in the special economic zone at Achutapuram, about 40 km from Visakhapatnam, within the Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemical Investment Region.

The crop segment that NACL is targeting, is its key crop segment- rice, cotton and in the tea plantation. The shortage of capacities facing western agrochemical companies due to the increase in demand across the entire product chain, particularly herbicides and select agri intermediates. NACL with its expanded facilities is poised to capitalize on these opportunities.

Barring unforeseen development, NACL expects the size of the domestic market to increase in a steady manner. Biotechnology will continue to play a greater role in the farming sector in the future. NACL has full fledged R & D facility in this regard.