Stocks in Focus Today: SBI, Airtel, Tata Motors, Indigo, Paytm, Zee
Equity markets are beginning the new week cautiously due to concerns over the Red Sea crisis escalation and a delay in the US Federal Reserve's rate cut decision. As of 7:35 AM, Gift Nifty futures were down 42 points at a level of 21,909.
State Bank of India: On February 3, India's largest bank reported a standalone net profit of Rs 9,164 crore for the Q3. This represents a decline of 35 percent in the December quarter. SBI stated that the net profit for Q3FY24 was impacted by higher operating expenses. On the positive side, corporate advances crossed Rs 10 trillion, while SME advances surpassed Rs 4 trillion, indicating expansion in both sectors. There was also good news regarding Gross Non-Performing Assets (NPA), which showed an improvement, standing at 2.42 percent. This represents a 72 bps decrease compared to the previous year. Net NPA also improved at 0.64 percent, representing a 13 bps decrease YoY.
Bharti Airtel: Based on strong growth in the number of subscribers and an increase in the average revenue per user (ARPU), driven by premiumization efforts, Bharti Airtel is expected to announce a consolidated net profit of Rs 38,068 crore, according to brokerages. This represents a 6.3 percent YoY increase in the current quarter and a modest 2.7 percent sequential increase. A report by Prabhudas Lilladher indicates that Airtel's consolidated revenue for Q3FY24 will experience a quarter-on-quarter increase of 2.3 percent, reaching Rs 37,900 crore. At the same time, the adjusted Profit After Tax (PAT) for the quarter is estimated at Rs 15,467 crore, reflecting a 2.6 percent decrease from Q3FY23.
InterGlobe Aviation: IndiGo, India's largest airline, experienced a significant rise in profits in the December quarter due to increased air travel. The company's net profit grew to Rs 2,998.1 crore, up from Rs 1,422.6 crore the previous year. IndiGo's total income also increased by 30.2 percent to Rs 20,062.3 crore. In the March quarter, the airline expects to see a 12 percent capacity growth compared to the same period last year. Despite supply chain issues, the company plans to induct at least one aircraft every week for the April-March 2024-25 period. These plans are indicative of IndiGo's optimistic outlook for the future.
Tata Motors: The carmaker reported a surge of 137.5 percent in consolidated net profit at Rs 7,025.11 crore, compared to Rs 2,958 crore in the year-ago period in the December quarter of FY24, beating Street estimates driven by strong sales in its British luxury car unit, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). On the near-term outlook, Tata Motors remains positive on all three auto businesses. Tata Motor's total revenue from operations for Q3FY24 rose 25 percent to Rs 110,577 crore, compared to Rs 88,488.59 crore. On the operating front, the auto major's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) in the December quarter rose 59 percent to Rs 15,333 crore, compared to Rs 9,644 crore in the year-ago period.
Delhivery: The logistics company reported a net profit of Rs 11.7 crore in the October- December 2023 quarter. Delhivery's consolidated net revenue increased by 13 percent QoQ to Rs 2,194 crore against Rs 1,941 crore in the previous quarter. Its net consolidated revenue increased 20.32percent YoY against Rs 1,823 crore in the year-ago period. The logistics firm reported a significant reduction in its net loss to Rs 103 crore in Q2FY24. Its net consolidated loss stood at Rs 195.6 crore in Q3FY23. Delhivery's revenue increased by 21 percent YoY to Rs 1,448 crore in the quarter from Rs 1,200 crore in Q3FY23.
Zee Entertainment Enterprises: The Singapore International Arbitration Centre denied an interim relief on Sony Group Corp.’s request to stop Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. from approaching an Indian corporate court in the scrapped $10 billion merger of the media firms. Sony and Zee had called off their planned media merger in India last month. Following the collapse, Sony filed an arbitration application in Singapore, seeking a termination fee from Zee. The emergency arbitrator in Singapore has allowed Zee to press its case against Sony’s Indian units Culver Max Entertainment Pvt and Bangla Entertainment Pvt before the company court in India seeking implementation of the merger plan, according to an exchange filing by Zee.
One97 Communications: Categorically denying any investigation by the Enforcement Directorate on One97 Communications, associates or its founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma for anti-money laundering activities, Paytm parent OCL rejected the recent misleading reports in media on Sunday, February 4. “Neither the company nor its founder and CEO are being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate regarding inter alia money laundering", the company said in an exchange filing. “We would like to set the record straight and deny any involvement in anti-money laundering activities (sic)", the company said.
JSW Infrastructure: The private-sector port operator said its consolidated net profit more than doubled year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 250.66 crore in the December quarter, buoyed by increased cargo volumes and higher tariffs. The JSW Group company had reported Rs 114.89 crore in net profit a year ago. India’s second-largest private port operator, JSW Infrastructure's revenue from operations in Q3FY24 stood at Rs 940.11 crore, rising 17.85percent YoY. The new container segment accounted for around 2 percent of the total volumes during the quarter, it said in a statement.
Adani Enterprises: Kutch Copper, a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises, is building the world's largest copper manufacturing plant at Mundra in Gujarat. The first phase of operations is expected to begin by the end of March, and the plant will have a full-scale capacity of 1 million tonnes by March 2029. This $1.2-billion facility is aimed at reducing India's dependence on imports of copper, the third most used industrial metal after steel and aluminium. The demand for copper is on the rise due to the fast-growing renewable energy, telecom, and electric vehicle industries. According to reports, India's per capita copper consumption is estimated at around 0.6 kg, which is much lower than the global average of 3.2 kg.
Tata Steel: Tata Steel has proposed an additional financial support package of around 130 million pounds for workers who would be affected as part of its transition plan in the United Kingdom. The company has devised a decarbonization plan for Tata Steel UK to reduce carbon emissions and save energy costs. This plan includes the installation of new plant machinery with low-emission technologies. The company plans to close both high-emission blast furnaces and coke ovens in a phased manner by 2024. They will shift to an EAF-based steel-making process at a cost of about 1.25 billion pounds, with 500 million pounds of support from the UK government. Koushik Chatterjee, the company's CFO, shared this information during an earnings call.
