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Dalal street ended higher during the week, aided by better-than-expected quarterly results from Corporate India and strong buying by foreign institutional investors (FIIs). For the week, the Sensex surged 1.59% to 62,027.90, while the Nifty 50 index rose 1.36% to 18,314.80. The BSE Midcap index climbed 1.35% to 26,200.75. The BSE Smallcap index rose 1.14% to 29,616.61.
For the week, FIIs were net buyers for Rs 7750.4 crore and DIIs were net sellers for Rs 1262 crore in the cash segment.
On a weekly basis, Top gainers among Nifty sectoral indices were Auto [4.23%], Private Bank [3.38%], Bank [2.65%], Financial Services [2.54%], and Realty [1.76%]. Top losers were PSU Bank [-4.28%], Metal [-2%], and Pharma [-0.96%].
Indian rupee weakened by 7 paise to 82.16 against the US dollar on Friday.
Company News
Larsen & Toubro (L&T): The engineering and infrastructure major has recorded a 10% year-on-year growth in consolidated profit at Rs 3,987 crore in the quarter ended March FY23 despite a drop in operating margin. Revenue from operations grew by 10% to Rs 58,335 crore compared to the year-ago period. The board approved a final dividend of Rs 24 per share for FY23. Meanwhile, AM Naik will step down as non-executive chairman of the company from Sept. 30, and will be conferred the status of chairman emeritus. SN Subrahmanyan, the chief executive officer & managing director, has been re-designated as the chairman and managing director of the company, with effect from Oct. 1, 2023.
Dr Reddy’s Laboratories: The pharma major has registered an 11-fold year-on-year increase in profit at Rs 959 crore for the March FY23 quarter. Revenue for the quarter increased by 16% to Rs 6,297 crore compared to the year-ago period, with North America business growing 27%, Europe 12%, and India business showing a 32% growth YoY. The company approved a final dividend of Rs 40 per share for the fiscal 2023.
Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL): The aerospace and defence major said its revenue from operations rose 8% YoY to Rs 12,495 crore. Ebitda jumped 30% YoY to Rs 3,241 crore. The net profit fell 8% YoY to Rs 2,841 crore. The company’s order book stood at Rs 81,784 crore. The board declared second interim dividend of Rs 20 per equity share. The total interim dividend declared for FY23 is Rs 40.
Vedanta: The mining major reported a 67.5% year-on-year drop to Rs 1,881 crore in the quarter ended March 2023 quarter. The company’s revenue from operations dropped 5.4% YoY to Rs 37,225 crore. Ebitda margin declined to 29% in Q4 from 39% in the March quarter of FY22, while the consolidated quarterly Ebitda stood at Rs 9,362 crore, up 32% QoQ.
ZEEL: Shares of the media company fell over 6% as the proposed merger with Sony hit yet another obstacle. Reports indicate that the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) notified the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) had instructed them to inform the tribunal of a recent order issued against Shirpur Gold Refinery, an Essel Group company.
Asian Paints: The paint major’s net profit grew 44% YoY to Rs 1,258.4 crore as compared to Rs 874 crore registered in the same quarter a year ago, according to the regulatory filing. The company’s revenue from operations jumped more than 11% to Rs 8,787.3 crore against Rs 7,892.7 crore logged in the year-ago quarter. Ebitda surged by 29.2% to Rs 1,865 crore during the March quarter against Rs 1,443.3 crore in the corresponding quarter of the past fiscal year. The company’s board has recommended payment of a final dividend of Rs 21.25 for the financial year ended March 2023.
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ): The company said in an exchange filing that it has completed early settlement of notes tendered pursuant to tender offer for its 3.375% senior notes due 2024. It paid a total of $127.39 million including payment of $970 per $1,000 principal amount, accrued interest of $9.9375 per $1,000 of the notes tendered. It arranged for the tendered notes to be cancelled on May 10, 2023. The outstanding principal amount of notes following cancellation is $520 million.
Sanofi India: The pharma company reported 20.13% decline in net profit at Rs 190.4 crore despite of 4.17% increase in revenue from operations to Rs 736.5 crore in Q1FY23 over Q1FY22. Profit before exceptional items and tax jumped 18.35% to Rs 245.7 crore in Q1FY23 as compared with Rs 207.6 crore in corresponding quarter last year. Exceptional items stood at Rs 178 crore in Q1 FY23. Sanofi India will demerge its consumer healthcare business and the company will be called Sanofi Consumer Healthcare. The shareholders of the demerged company, will be issued equity in the ratio of 1:1.
BASF India: The company’s net profit dropped 45.02% to Rs 82.39 crore in Q4FY23 as against Rs 149.85 crore in Q4FY22. Its company’s revenue from operations declined 3.26% to Rs 3,249.95 crore in the quarter ended March 2023. The company reported an exceptional profit of Rs 15.31 crore in Q4FY23 due to sale of non-core assets – residential properties. The company’s net profit decreased 32.27% to Rs 402.89 crore on a 4.23% rise in revenue from operations to Rs 13,518.79 crore in FY23 over FY22. Meanwhile, the board recommended a dividend of Rs 8 per equity share for FY23, subject to the approval of the shareholders and the dividend is payable on or after 8 August 2023.
Raymond: The consolidated net profit dropped 26.1% YoY at Rs 194.5 crore in Q4FY23 as against Rs 263.3 crore in the year-ago period. The consolidated revenue was up 9.8% YoY at Rs 2,150.2 crore in Q4FY23 from Rs 1,958.1 crore in the year-ago period. Ebitda was up 18.4% YoY at Rs 336.8 crore in Q4FY23 as against Rs 284.4 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal. The company has declared a dividend of Rs 3 per share for FY23.
Zomato: Shares of Zomato tanked 6% on Tuesday after the media reported that US-based fund manager Invesco has slashed the valuation of food and grocery delivery platform Swiggy. According to the media reports, Invesco has slashed Swiggy’s valuation to $5.5 billion from $8.2 billion and it is the second time that Invesco’s has markdown for Swiggy in less than a year. Earlier in April, it had reduced the company’s valuation to $8.2 billion from $10.7 billion.
Eicher Motors: The company reported a 48.5% year-on-year growth in consolidated profit at Rs 905.6 crore for quarter ended March FY23, driven by higher sales. Consolidated revenue from operations in Q4 grew by 19.1% to Rs 3,804.3 crore compared to year-ago period. Ebitda rose 23% YoY to Rs 933.7 crore in Q4FY23. The board has recommended a final dividend of Rs 37 per share, and approved a cash outlay towards capex of more than Rs 1,000 crore for FY24.
Apollo Tyres: The tyre manufacturer has registered a 277% year-on-year growth in consolidated profit at Rs 427.4 crore for the quarter ended March FY23, supported by strong operating numbers. Revenue from operations at Rs 6,247.33 crore increased by 12% over a corresponding period of the last fiscal. Ebitda rose 59.4% YoY to Rs 998.45 crore in the quarter under review. The board recommended a final dividend of Rs 4 per share and special dividend of Rs 0.50 per share, aggregating to Rs 4.50 per share and a total outgo of Rs 285.80 crore. It also approved fixation of tenure of Onkar Kanwar as chairman for five years, effective from Feb. 1, 2023 to Jan. 31, 2028. It also approved the reappointment of Neeraj Kanwar as managing director and Satish Sharma as whole-time director for five years from April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2029.
Pidilite Industries: The adhesive manufacturing company has recorded an 11.3% year-on-year growth in consolidated profit at Rs 283.03 crore for the quarter ended March FY23 on good operating numbers. Revenue from operations rose 7.3% to Rs 2,689.25 crore in the same period. The board recommended a dividend of Rs 11 per share for the fiscal 2023. Meanwhile, the company has decided to discontinue operations of the Sargent Art Division in a phased manner. Further, NK Parekh has stepped down as the non-executive vice-chairman of the company, and Apurva N Parekh has been designated as the executive vice-chairman, these changes come into effect from May 8, 2023.
Mankind Pharma: The company had a strong stock market debut on Tuesday. The scrip was listed at a price of Rs 1,300, at a premium of 20.37% as compared to the issue price of Rs 1080 apiece. The shares hit a high of Rs 1430 per share and closed at Rs 1422.30 apiece on Tuesday. On Thursday, the Income Tax department conducted searches on the premises of Mankind Pharma over allegations of tax evasion, official sources said. The department is searching the company premises in Delhi and nearby locations, documents are being checked and people are being questioned, sources added.
Economy News
India’s inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) in April 2023 declined to its 18-month low of 4.7%, according to the official data released on Friday. The retail inflation was 5.66% in March 2023 and 7.79% in the year-ago period. The Consumer Food Price Index was 3.84% in April 2023, compared with 4.79% in March 2023 and 8.31% in April 2022.
Separately, the country’s industrial production based on IIP rose 1.1% in March 2023, against 5.6% in the preceding month.
Global Markets
The US markets ended mixed as gains in technology stocks pushed technology-heavy Nasdaq index higher, while Dow Jones and S&P 500 closed lower during the week. For the week, Nasdaq closed 0.4% higher, while Dow fell 1.11% and the S&P 500 index dropped 0.29%.
The US Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 4.9% in April 2023 over April 2022, the Labor Department data showed. The number was below the March reading of 5%. Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, was in line with expectations over the period, rising 5.5%. Further, the US job growth and wage gains accelerated in April. The non-farms payroll report showed US employers added 2,53,000 new jobs in April, up from 1,65,000 in March. The Labor Department’s employment report showed the unemployment rate falling back to 3.4%.
Japanese markets ended higher, helped by investor optimism after strong earnings reported by Japanese companies. For the week, the Nikkei 225 index rose 0.8% and the Topix index was up 1.0%. The yen appreciated modestly, to about JPY 134.75 against the US dollar, from the prior week’s JPY 134.85.
Chinese equities declined as investors were concerned over the strength of the country’s economic recovery. The Shanghai Stock Exchange index gave up 1.86% while the CSI 300 fell 1.97%, the benchmark Hang Seng index declined 2.11%.
Meanwhile, Chinese imports dropped 7.9% in April, while exports grew by 8.5%, though at a slower pace than in March 2023. Although China’s economy had grown more than expected in Q1 2023, manufacturing was yet to recover from the effects of the pandemic.
China’s consumer price index rose 0.1% year-on-year in April 2023, the slowest since early 2021. Month-on-month, prices declined by 0.1%. April’s reading comes after China’s inflation rate eased to 0.7% in March after marking a recent peak of 2.8% in September. The producer price index fell 3.6% and marked the weakest reading since May 2020.