It is finally official that LIC IPO will open on 04th May and close on 09th May with a price band of Rs.902 to Rs.949. It is expected that at these valuations the LIC IPO would not crowd out other IPOs. LIC is likely to list on the stock markets on 17th May. Government will sell a total of 22,13,74,920 shares, representing 3.5% of the capital of LIC. While 15.81 lakh shares are reserved for employees, 2.21 crore shares are reserved for policyholders. The IPO of LIC had to be completed before 12th May, to avoid refiling DRHP.
Reliance Industries became the first listed Indian company to scale Rs.19 trillion market cap mark. On 27th April, stock RIL hit a new high of Rs.2,827 after its deal with TA’ZIZ of UAE to set up a chemical unit in the UAE. In the last 7 days, Reliance is up nearly 11%, at a time when the market overall has been weak in the middle of FPI selling. RIL is up 20% in the last 3 months. It is expected to report better gross refining margins in the fourth quarter when the results are announced. The ADNOC deal will open new streams.
Hindustan Unilever reported 5.34% rise in net profits for the Mar-22 quarter at Rs.2,307 crore. For the Mar-22 quarter, the sales revenues were also up 10.21% at Rs.13,468 crore. HUL had crossed Rs.50,000 crore sales mark in FY21 and it is expected to substantially better that figure. Despite flat volumes, HUL managed to increase sales on better pricing power. This also enabled HUL to pass on some of the input cost spike to the customers. EBITDA margins stood at 24.6% in Q4, with good traction from FMCG vertical.
TVS Motor Company signed a strategic partnership with Rapido, a fast-growing on-demand delivery and mobility platform. TVS Motor and Rapido will leverage synergies of their businesses in the fast-moving mobility market in India. The partnership will cover two-wheelers and three-wheelers. With the rapid growth of instant delivery, hyperlocal mobility segments metamorphosed into a $15 billion opportunity. Rapido is the leading bike-taxi platform in India and helps TVS reinforce its forte in green mobility market.
Less than a month after its follow-on public offer (FPO), the rally in the stock of Ruchi Soya has almost been relentless. The stock touched a price of Rs.1,115 having surged 19% in just last 6 days. Ruchi Soya is currently owned by the Patanjali Ayurved group and the stock has rallied 72% from its FPO price. Ruchi Soya repaid more debt that it had promised to turn debt free. It had done the FPO to comply with SEBI stipulation that the public holding in any listed company must be reduced to 25%, and it stands at 80.82%.
Shareholders have approved the merger of Jindal Stainless Ltd (JSL) and Jindal Stainless Hisar Ltd (JSHL) into a single entity. The companies have secured approval of the shareholders and creditors. The scheme of arrangement stands approved. This is pursuant to the NCLT order and now the second application has to be filed with NCLT. Jindal management was of the view that the merger would be value accretive both companies. JSHL has 0.8 MTPA melting capacity while JSL runs 1.1 MTPA stainless steel plant in Odisha.
Bodhi Tree Systems, which is the content platform of James Murdoch and Uday Shankar, entered into a strategic deal with RIL and Viacom 18 to invest Rs.13,500 crore in Viacom 18. The idea is to build India’s premier entertainment platform with a streaming-first approach. Viacom runs Colors TV and Voot, an OTT platform. Apart from the Bodhi Tree investment, Reliance will also invest Rs.1,645 crore. Jio Cinema OTT will also be transferred to Viacom18. The whole idea is to reshape entertainment with a futuristic view.
Bajaj Auto reported 10% growth in net profit at Rs.1,469 crore for the Mar-22 quarter. This could be slightly misleading as the surge in profits was largely on account of an exceptional gain of Rs.315 crore on account of incentive receivable from the Maharashtra government scheme. Due to input cost pressures, the EBITDA fell 10% to Rs.1,396 crore, while EBITDA margins narrowed yoy to 17.5%. However, there was sequential margin improvement due to material cost deferment and dollar realizations. DPS was Rs.140.
