Business News at 05:30 pm on 19th July, 2024

Let’s begin… COWRKS, a leading provider of premium workspaces, has announced its expansion with the opening of 4 new centres in Mumbai and Bengaluru. The new centres are strategically located at Equinox in Mumbai, and Ecoworld and Centennial in Bengaluru. This expansion will add 1.4 lakh sq ft, increasing the brand’s total presence across India to 15 lakh sq ft. With a total of 34 centres nationwide, this growth enhances the brand’s capacity to meet the growing demand for Grade A workspace solutions in key metropolitan areas. Parul Thakur, Senior Vice President & Business Head, COWRKS, said, “The launch of these new centres reflects the growing demand for Grade A flexible office solutions from both startups and large enterprises, which aligns with our strategic goals.”

Next up, The new asset class proposed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is expected to bring innovative investment products and styles in the market, but could also encourage some investors to move from existing high-risk products like portfolio management services (PMS) and alternative investment funds (AIFs). In comparison to mutual funds starting at Rs 100 and PMS at Rs 50 lakh, the new asset class, which targets investors with higher risk appetite with a minimum investment of Rs 10 lakh, can provide them with the higher alpha that many seek. “PMS/AIF may get disadvantaged if it causes cannibalisation of their AUM in favour of the new asset class from large, moneyed investors” said Ruchir Kapoor, managing director at Merisis Wealth.

Next up, Sanstar opens IPO to collect bids from investors for subscription on July 19. The company will close the subscription in July 23. The company will be collecting a sum of Rs 510.15 crore from the investors through a combination of fresh issue as well as an offer for sale. Sanstar will offer 41.8 million fresh shares of the company to bidders for a value of Rs 397.10 crore. The promoters and other selling shareholders will offload 11.9 million shares of the company for Rs 113.05 crore. Sanstar kept the IPO price band between a range of Rs 90 to Rs 95 per equity share. The minimum investment for a retail investor is Rs 14,250 as it needs to buy at least 150 shares.

Elsewhere, One 97 Communications, the parent company of fintech major Paytm, on Friday posted its fiscal first quarter earnings wherein it reported a widened loss of Rs 840.10 crore in comparison to a loss of Rs 358.40 crore posted during the corresponding quarter of FY24.This was due to the continued impact from the RBI curbs that led to shutting down of Paytm’s payments bank business. The company posted revenue from operations at Rs 1501.60 crore, down 35.9 per cent as against Rs 2341.60 crore recorded during the first quarter of previous fiscal year. RBI had, earlier in January this year, placed restrictions on Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL). In order to manage the escalating losses, Paytm had launched a plan to save Rs 400-500 crore annually on employee costs.

Furthermore, Toshiba Transmission & Distribution Systems, part of the Toshiba Group, on Thursday said it will increase its manufacturing capacity for power transformers and distribution transformers by nearly 1.5 times compared to FY23, over a three-year period from FY24 to FY26. The Toshiba Group has positioned the power T&D business as a focus area and will invest nearly Japanese yen (JPY) 10 billion (over Rs 500 crore) in TTDI to expand its capacity. With this investment, TTDI will enhance its assembly and test line capacity for distribution transformers and power transformers for transmission grids and distribution networks. The upgraded testing capacity for power transformers will represent a significant enhancement, specifically geared towards expanding exports and meeting the high demand for 400kV / 765kV transformers in the Indian market, it said.

Moving on, The revenues of integrated sugar mills is expected to expand by 10 per cent in FY2025 and this will be supported by an increase in sales volumes along with firm domestic sugar prices and higher distillery volumes after the operationalisation of new capacities, said a report by ICRA. It further stated that the operating profit margins of the sugar mills are projected to remain comfortable in FY2025, in line with FY2024, because of firm sugar realisations and higher cane prices for SY2025. ICRA maintained the outlook for the sugar sector at Stable. It said that this will be backed by the anticipated improvement in revenues, stable profitability, and comfortable debt coverage metrics along with the Government’s policy support, including the ethanol blending programme.

Lastly, The benchmark equity indices ended Friday’s trading session in the negative territory. The NSE Nifty 50 plunged 269.95 points or 1.09% to settle at 24,530.10, while the BSE Sensex fell 738.81 points or 0.91% to 80,604.65. The broader indices ended in negative territory, with gain fall by Small-cap and Midcap stocks. Bank Nifty index ended lower by 355.10 points or 0.67% to settle at 52,265.60. Metal and Energy stocks fell over 2% among the other sectoral indices while FMCG, IT and Realty stocks shed.