Ind-Ra affirms National Fertilizers at ‘IND AA-’ with stable outlook

New Delhi: India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has affirmed National Fertilizers Limited’s (NFL) Long-Term Issuer Rating at ‘IND AA-’. The Outlook is Stable.

India Ratings and Research also affirm 'IND A1+' rating to the commercial paper.

To arrive at the ratings, Ind-Ra continues to take a bottom-up approach, factoring in the consolidated profile of NFL and its joint ventures and also factored in the availability of support from the government of India (GoI).

The affirmation factors in the continued strength of NFL’s business profile as reflected through its market position in northern India, its healthy market share in the urea segment, and the portfolio expansion achieved by the company through trading of fertilisers, which has enabled it to emerge as a complete one-stop fertiliser supplier for its consumers.

Furthermore, despite the drop in the urea division’s profitability post the tightening of energy-efficiency norms, NFL’s financial profile is likely to improve because of the substantial decline in its interest burden and subsequent improvement in its credit metrics, resulting from the clearance of the past subsidy receivables by the GoI.

At around 10:22 AM, National Fertilizer was trading at Rs59.50 per piece up by Rs1.6 or 2.76% on Sensex.