Business News at 05:30 pm on 7th November 2023

Let’s begin. The stock price of FSN E-Commerce Ventures, the operator of online beauty and fashion retailer Nykaa soared over 5% to Rs 154.8 a day after the company posted a profit of Rs 7.80 crore during the second quarter of FY24, up 50.3 per cent in comparison to Rs 5.19 crore during the corresponding quarter of last year. It posted revenue from operations at Rs 1507.02 crore, up 22.4 per cent as against Rs 1230.83 crore during the second quarter of FY23. This, the company said, was despite the festive season witnessing a delay this year, moving into October versus commencing in September last year. Nykaa’s share price gained 6.35% in the last five days, while it dropped 3.45 per cent year to date.

Meanwhile, Info Edge (India) Limited on Tuesday recorded Q2 profit for the financial year 2023-24 at Rs 205.13 crore, up 99.1 per cent in comparison to Rs 103.01 crore during the second quarter of FY23. It posted revenue from operations at Rs 625.85 crore, up 3.6 per cent as against Rs 604.12 crore during the same period last year. The company EBITDA stood at Rs 205 crore for the quarter. While the total income during the quarter ended September 2023 came at Rs 792.01 crore, total expenditure incurred by the company during the period was at Rs 455.34 crore. The company board also declared an interim dividend of Rs 10 per share, on face value of Rs 10 per share for the financial year 2023-24.

Over to industry. Larsen and Toubro Technology Services has partnered with Google Cloud for implementing generative technology in operations, the company said on Tuesday. LTTS is the digital engineering and R&D services company under Larsen and Toubro Group. LTTS Developer Experience platform is designed for engineering services, offering API-enabled solutions across industries, the company said in a statement. The company said it will combine its expertise with Google Cloud for developing the platform and optimise test case generation by integrating gen AI into the development code and automating code generation to reduce manual efforts and boost development efficiency.

Speaking of Larsen and Toubro, the company has announced that its Water & Effluent Treatment business has secured repeat orders in the range of Rs 1000 crore and Rs 2500 crore from the Water Resources Department, Government of Odisha to execute Cluster XXII and Cluster XXV Mega Lift Irrigation Projects. The aggregate scope of works, it said, includes execution of 19 Lift Irrigation Schemes comprising intake points spread across the Manjore reservoir, Brahmani River, Rengali Left Main canal, Rengali Right Main Canal, and lndravati Reservoir to irrigate an area of 28,944 hectares in the districts of Angul, Dhenkanal and Nabarangpur on a turnkey basis. The scope additionally includes establishing a distribution network, power system connectivity, and operation and maintenance of the entire commissioned infrastructure for fifteen years.

Moving on, Devyani International on Tuesday recorded profit for the second quarter of FY24 at Rs 33.35 crore, down 43.2 percent. It posted revenue from operations at Rs 819.47 crore, up 9.6 percent as against Rs 747.43 crore during the quarter ended September 2022, led by new store additions. The company’s EBITDA stood at Rs154 crore, down 7 percent on-year. Devyani International registered a healthy performance across its core brands, despite a challenging macro environment and low consumer sentiment. The Company expanded its presence across brands and geographies, opening 68 net new stores in Q2FY24. Further, the company aims to bring its diverse brand portfolio closer to consumers and strengthen its presence in domestic markets through these new store expansions.

On to technology. YouTube is also entering the generative artificial intelligence race with the introduction of new features for its premium subscribers. These features include a conversational tool and a comments summarisation feature. They will be available through YouTube’s experiment hub at youtube.com/new on an opt-in basis. The conversational tool, set to launch in the coming weeks, is designed to include interaction and enhance the viewing experience. It uses LLM to answer user questions and provide recommendations about YouTube content. Users can ask questions about the video they’re currently watching or request similar content recommendations without interrupting video playback. Initially, this feature will be available in the U.S. and on Android devices via a new “Ask” option on video watch pages.

Lastly, the share market. Let’s see how the stock market performed today. Benchmark indices ended on a flat note in the volatile session on November 7. Hero MotoCorp, Coal India, Bajaj Finance, Reliance Industries and Adani Ports were among major losers on the Nifty, while gainers included Sun Pharma, BPCL, NTPC, Axis Bank and IndusInd Bank. Among sectors, healthcare and oil & gas up 1 per cent each, while realty down 1 per cent. BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices up 0.4 per cent each.