In this round-up, we talk about RBI’s ban on Paytm Payments Bank Ltd, Byju’s investors issue notice for EGM and Q3 profits of various companies among other news.
Weekly Business Roundup at 10:00 am on 4th February 2024.
[Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated]
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Let’s begin. London-headquartered Vedanta Resources will make an upfront payment of $779 million in cash on February 7 to bondholders to redeem a portion of the bonds and extend their maturities. Earlier this month, VRL, the parent company of Indian mining major Vedanta, received bondholders’ approvals to extend the maturity period of four series of bonds worth $3.2 billion due in the next three years. The bonds are listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading (SGX-ST). The company will be paying $779 million in upfront cash. It will also pay a consent fee of $68 million to the bondholders who had agreed to the restructuring, it said in a regulatory update this week.
Meanwhile, Just days after troubled edtech firm, Byju’s launched a rights issue to raise $200 million from existing shareholders, its key investors are seeking to oust its top brass led by founder-CEO Byju Raveendran. Stating that they are “deeply concerned” about future stability under the current leadership, the investors are seeking an extraordinary general meeting to adopt resolutions on outstanding governance, financial mismanagement, and compliance issues. The reconstitution of the board of directors, so that it is no longer controlled by the founders of Byju’s parent company Think & Learn, and a change in leadership of the company, is also on their agenda.
Moving on. Titan Company Limited on Thursday recorded its third quarter profit for the financial year 2023-24 at Rs 1053 crore, up 16.5 per cent in comparison to Rs 904 crore during the third quarter of FY23. It posted revenue from operations at Rs 14,164 crore, up 22 per cent in comparison to Rs 11,609 crore during the corresponding quarter of previous year. CK Venkataraman, Managing Director of the Company, said, quote, “The festive quarter saw encouraging consumer demand delivering a healthy double-digit growth of 24 per cent over a strong base of Q3FY23. Our international store openings in the Houston, Dallas and Singapore market were enthusiastically received by the Indian diaspora and other nationals at those locations,” unquote.
In some more industry news, Raymond Ltd this week reported fiscal third-quarter profit at Rs 183.60 crore, up 93.6 percent in comparison to Rs 94.84 crore during the corresponding quarter of the previous year. It posted revenue from operations at Rs 2386.18 crore, up 10.1 percent as against Rs 2168.16 crore during the third quarter of FY23. The company EBITDA stood at Rs 362 crore, up 13.4 percent on-year. The company said that the improved operating and financial performance during the quarter was led by strong revenue growth of 50 percent in the real estate business and over 20 percent in the branded apparel business. Raymond Realty business, meanwhile, reported a sales increase from Rs 292 crore in Q3FY23 to Rs 439 crore in Q3FY24.
Speaking of Q3 profit, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited this week recorded its third-quarter earnings for the financial year 2023-24 with a profit of Rs 2,208.41 crore in comparison to Rs 1,315.54 crore during the corresponding quarter of the previous year. It posted revenue from operations at Rs 6,920.10 crore as against Rs 4,786.17 crore during the third quarter of FY23. The company’s EBITDA stood at Rs 4,292 crore. APSEZ CEO Ashwani Gupta said, quote, “In the year when our first port, Mundra, completed 25 years of operation, APSEZ recorded its strongest ever Q3 and 9M performance with the highest ever revenue, EBITDA, and cargo volumes, and is on course to overachieve its full-year guidance provided at the start of the year,” unquote.
In other news, Wipro has started the process of downsizing its mid-level staff, to improve its margins, which is the lowest among the top four IT services companies. The process will see hundreds of people losing their jobs, sources said. Most of the employees who are likely to be laid off are in non-billable sections. There are also some in the billable sections whose role can be automated. Sources said that Wipro’s move to downsize its headcount is part of a “Left-Shift” strategy. Herein the work of a level 3 employee is shifted to a level 2 employee, who is given appropriate tools. A level 1 employee does the level 2 work, and the work of level 1 employee is automated.
Lastly, Fintech firm Paytm saw an impact of Rs 300-500 crore on its annual operational profit as its customers will not be able to add money to their wallets, FASTags etc. as RBI barred Paytm Payments Bank Ltd from accepting deposits or top-ups in any customer account. Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma said that RBI order is a “big speed bump” and shared that he could not understand the trigger for the move. Sharma said, going forward, One97 Communications Ltd (OCL) will be working only with other banks, and not with PPBL.
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