Hero Moto reported 39% growth in standalone net profit at Rs.865 crore for Mar-21 quarter with the consolidated profits being just marginally higher. Revenues were also up 40% at Rs.8,686 crore. The company declared a final dividend of Rs.25 per share and a special dividend of Rs.10 per share. For FY21, Hero Moto grew its market share in the motorcycles and even the scooters segment, including the premium segment. EBITDA for Mar-21 quarter was higher by 84% at Rs.1,211 crore despite the pandemic.
Nuvoco Vistas, a closely held cement manufacturer backed by Nirma Group, filed for a Rs.5,000 crore IPO. This will include a fresh offer of Rs.1,500 crore and an offer for sale by the promoters worth Rs.3,500 crore. IPO proceeds will be used to repay debt of Rs.1,350 crore. Nuvoco has 11 units across North and East with installed capacity of 22.32 MT annually. In the last 12 years, Nuvoco bought the cement business of Tata Steel, Raymond, Emami Group and the Ready Mix Concrete or RMC business of Larsen & Toubro.
Muthoot Finance announced a tie-up with NIRA, a Fintech firm, in order to expand its digital footprint. Through this partnership, salaried persons can get personal loans up to Rs.1 lakh from Muthoot Finance just by downloading the NIRA app from Google Play store. NIRA offers very small ticket personal loans to salaried workers from India’s middle class. This will enable Muthoot to build its unsecured lending book.
Currently, the lending portfolio of Muthoot is predominantly gold loans. Muthoot will do the fulfilment.
The second wave of COVID is apparently extracting a steep price from the Indian economy. The estimate for real GDP in FY21 has already been pegged at -8% contraction. But the real problem is not just about GDP, it is about jobs. While agriculture employs more people than it did 5 years ago, in the case of manufacturing the employment is nearly half of what it was 5 years ago. This has been triggered by the use of technology but COVID has sharpened the impact. Only Chemical units are employing more people.
In what could be critical data point for the agriculture sector, the monsoons this year will hit the Southern coast around 01 June. The official forecast of the IMD will be issued only on 15 May. Ironically, nearly 50% of the farmlands in India do not have irrigation cover and are dependent on the Jun-Sep monsoons. Last year, the monsoons were above average and this year also monsoons are expected to be close to 100% of the Long Period Average or LPA. This could be the third consecutive year of normal monsoons in India.
Tata Consumer Products saw fall in profits as well as contraction in margins in the Mar-21 quarter. This was due to a sharp spike in expenses and input costs. Net profits for the Mar-21 quarter fell by 44% on a sequential basis to Rs.133 crore, lower than what the analysts were projecting for the quarter. Total revenues also fell 1% to Rs.3,037 crore. The operating margins contracted from 11.8% to 9% in the Mar-21 quarter on a yoy basis. Indian foods and beverages did well while international beverages lagged.
Anupam Rasayan gained 13% in last 2 days to touch a life-time high of Rs.716. The stock has already surged 46% from its recent IPO price of Rs.555. The trigger for the latest rally came from Plutus Wealth Management buying 10 lakh shares through open market transactions. The value of the deal was Rs.64.5 crore. The stock price also got a boost from the fact that the company had repaid Rs.470 crore of borrowings from the IPO proceeds. It recently bagged a Rs.1,100 crore order from one life sciences MNC.
Restaurant owners are now planning to take on Swiggy and Zomato by building their delivery capabilities and proprietary ordering channels. The idea is to save on the huge commissions that these restaurants have to shell out to Zomato and Swiggy for this takeaway service. Restaurant owners believe that owning their delivery channels will allow them to expand their reach without too much investments. The online food delivery business is estimated at Rs.25,000 crore. However, most will offer it as a binary solution.
