Shares of Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore, or FACT, are surging in Tuesday's trade, rising as much as 14.5%. In the process, the government-owned fertiliser company has overtaken Coromandel International, another major fertiliser and chemicals company, in terms of market capitalisation.
The Kochi-based FACT currently has a market cap of ₹57,673.53 crore, compared with Coromandel's ₹56,184.41 crore. However, there is more to it than meets the eye. FACT's recent performance has done little to inspire. In the first quarter of FY27, the company incurred a consolidated net loss of ₹61.94 crore, compared with a profit of ₹4.28 crore in the year-ago period.
On the topline front, revenue from operations surged 20.2% year-on-year to ₹1,253.4 crore in the quarter ended June 2026, compared with ₹1,042.8 crore a year earlier. However, operating profitability was weaker, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation swinging to a loss of ₹29.8 crore from a profit of ₹23.98 crore in Q1FY26.
MCapFY26 PATCoromandel₹56,750 cr₹1898 crFACT₹57300 cr₹-40crFACT FinancialsFY24FY25FY26Margins7%2.30%1.20%PAT128 crore41 crore-40 croreAlthough FACT's market cap has crossed Coromandel's, the current figure is still lower than its 2024 high mark of ₹70,000 crore.
As for Coromandel, the company also recorded a lacklustre Q1, with consolidated net profit declining 24.6% year-on-year in the first quarter of FY27 to ₹381 crore, from ₹505 crore a year earlier. So, why is this surge happening? The surge in FACT's stock comes as reports suggest that the government has utilised approximately 56% of the annual fertiliser subsidy within the first four and a half months of the current financial year.
FACT is majorly owned by the state, with the Government of India holding a 90% stake and the Special National Investment Fund holding 8.56%. This leaves the company with a 1.44% public float. According to a Times of India report, the increased expenditure, amounting to ₹99,000 crore, suggests that total spending on fertiliser subsidies may exceed the projected ₹1.77 lakh crore for FY27.
A significant portion of this subsidy, totalling ₹77,871 crore, has been allocated to the import and domestic production of urea, while ₹21,255 crore has been spent on imports and domestic production of diammonium phosphate , muriate of potash and NPKs.
In addition, Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister J. P. Nadda stressed the need to raise the Indian chemicals sector to $1 trillion by 2040 and said the government is focused on creating an ecosystem to boost investment and increase domestic manufacturing capabilities.
Stock PerformanceThe stock surged over 14% today. The company's shares have fallen over 4% since the beginning of the year and over 14% in the past year. The stock is about 22% below its 52-week high of ₹1,058.60 and about 33% above its 52-week low of ₹652.10.
More than 59 lakh shares of the company have been traded on the stock market today, at 44.24 times the stock's 10-day average.