After reporting a consolidated profit after tax of Rs 34.7 crore, Godrej Agrovet on Tuesday said topline and bottom line numbers will be better in the coming year.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Balram Yadav, managing director, said, "We are confident that we should be able to maintain the growth rate which we have delivered this year."

Yadav said the decision to merge Astec Lifesciences with Godrej Agrovet will help the former to grow aggressively, "However, when we engaged with different stakeholders of both the companies, we thought that we should postpone this for some more time."

"There were a lot of headwinds in the industry. That's why you see profitability in the first half of the year. However, if you see the second half, it has given us a lot of confidence," he said.

"As far as volume growth in animal feed is concerned, we are expanding to new geographies and we are setting up new capacities. So we will be able to maintain the same momentum," he added.

According to Yadav, "Palm oil business is a very seasonal business. I think the second and the third quarter are the most important quarter for that. You have to see this as a seasonal business. We believe that as global demand picks up the oil prices will also go up."

Godrej Agrovet reported total income of Rs 1,356.9 crore during the last quarter of 2018-19. The revenue of the company was Rs 1,205.5 crore in the fourth quarter of 2017-18.

For FY19, the company's profit after tax declined marginally by 1.2 percent to Rs 240.3 crore compared to Rs 243.2 crore in the previous financial year. The company's total income for 2018-19, stood at Rs 5,896.3 crore. Its total income in FY18 was Rs 5,237.7 crore.

Total Income for the year ended March 2018, has been impacted by GST which came into effect from July 1, 2017. Hence, total income for the current year is not comparable with the corresponding period in the previous year for Godrej Agrovet and its subsidiaries which is inclusive of excise duty.

(With inputs from PTI)