Q2 Result 2024: ITC, Adani Wilmar, Patanjali Foods, Castrol India, GMR Airports, others releasing Q2 report today

Arun Kumar, Founder & Executive Chairperson, and Badree Komandur, MD & Group CEO, said, “We continue to deliver on the momentum built over several preceding quarters and delivered another strong quarter. Q2FY25 demonstrated sustained growth across all markets fueled by new product launches. US operations reported the highest ever quarterly revenue of $75m in Q2FY25. Strong YoY improvement in absolute EBITDA and EBITDA margin reflects our continued focus on operational efficiency and profitability.”

Strides Pharma Science Ltd on Thursday reported its fiscal second quarter profit at Rs 93.66 crore in comparison to a loss of Rs 149.46 crore posted during the corresponding quarter of FY24. It recorded revenue from operations at Rs 1201.11 crore, up 20.2 per cent as against Rs 999.43 crore during the same period of previous financial year. The company EBITDA stood at Rs 235.7 crore, up 54 per cent YoY.

Prabha Narasimhan, Managing Director & CEO, Colgate-Palmolive (India) Limited, said, “We are pleased with the robust, consistent topline performance in a tough operating environment. This has been led by broad-based growth across portfolios. Toothpaste achieved high-single digit volume growth on the back of our core brands- Colgate Maxfresh and Colgate Strong Teeth. Toothbrush continued to grow at double digits with rapid premiumisation. We expect continued difficult market conditions but remain committed to leverage our very strong P&L which allows us to continue to invest behind superior products and advertising while we maintain our focus on ensuring better oral health for everyone in India.”

The company board declared its first interim dividend of Rs 24 per equity share of face value of Re 1 for the Financial Year 2024-25. “The said interim dividend will be paid on and from November 21, 2024 to those shareholders whose names appear in the Register of Members/Beneficial Owners of the Company as on the Record date i.e. November 04, 2024,” it said in a regulatory filing.

Colgate-Palmolive (India) Ltd on Thursday reported its fiscal second quarter earnings with profit at Rs 395.05 crore, up 16.2 per cent in comparison to Rs 340.05 crore during the corresponding quarter of FY24, missing estimates. It posted revenue from operations at Rs 1619.11 crore, up 10.1 per cent as against Rs 1471.09 crore during the same period of previous financial year. The company EBITDA stood at Rs 497 crore.

According to a CNBC TV18 poll, Colgate-Palmolive was expected to report Q2 profit at Rs 396 crore and revenue for the quarter in review was estimated at Rs 1625 crore.

Anand Rathi Research Team stated, “Demand was weak in Q2 due to extended monsoons. Management is hopeful of better offtake in H2. The company commissioned 5.1m sq.mtr of the ceramic tile and GVT capacity in Nepal; revenue to start flowing in. The structural story is intact, and we expect revenue/earnings CAGRs of 11.3%/16.9% over FY24-27. As the stock has slipped 19% from its recent highs and 9%/15% during the last one week/month, it offers a 35% potential upside, based on our higher 12-mth TP of Rs 1,695, 40x FY27e earnings (earlier Rs 1,520, 40x FY26e earnings).”

InCred Equities said, “SBI Life Insurance Company reported ~3.5% yoy decline in the value of new business (VNB) to Rs 14.4 bn whereas the APE grew by ~3.1% yoy to Rs 53.9 bn in 2QFY25. Management attributed the slowdown to the high base of last year, but the share of banks (especially State Bank of India or SBI) continues to witness a decline on individual new business premium basis to ~58% against ~65% last year & ~59% last quarter. SBI is shifting the insurance sourcing towards its digital platform (YONO), which also impacted on the growth temporarily during the quarter. ULIPs continued to retain their dominance in the overall portfolio mix, with a share of ~63% of APE, while the share of protection plans remained sluggish at ~9% of APE.”

Elara Securities, said, “AU Small Finance Bank’s Q2 earnings surpassed expectations on higher other income and curtailed opex, even as credit costs rose. The key highlights were: 1) better business growth outcome which with steady NIMs supported NII, b) higher slippages of 3% plus, driven by credit cards and MFI, with revised higher annual guidance, and c) lower opex feeding into steady core PPoP (continuity needs a watch). While AUBANK has maintained overall RoA guidance (for FY25), there seems to be many variables at this juncture. We believe Q2 performance on asset quality outcome had softer undertones and thus, a rerating would be challenging in the near term. We believe merger integration challenges (as seen with various entities), changes in underlying business and potentially increasing volatility during a downturn may hit structural valuations.”

As FMCG giant ITC Ltd is all set to announce its Q2 earnings today, Axis Securities said that the company is expected to report a revenue growth of 7 per cent, with cigarette category expected to grow 6 per cent YoY (2 per cent volume), FMCG estimated to grow at 7 per cent YoY, hotels 10 per cent YoY, papers (decline) and agri to grow 15 per cent. The analysis report further said that EBITDA margins is expected to decline YoY on account of of subdued performance of paper board business. Key monitorables, it added, are demand outlook on rural vs urban, competitive intensity, RM trends, Hotels and Agri business outlook.

According to a CNBC TV18 poll, ITC is expected to report Q2 profit at Rs 5050 crore and revenue for the quarter is estimated at Rs 17,710 crore.

The Prestige & Above segment accounted for 88.9 per cent of net sales value during the second quarter of the fiscal year 2025, up 0.9 ppt over the prior year.

The Popular segment accounted for 9.0 per cent of net sales value during the second quarter of the fiscal year 2025, down 0.6 ppt compared to the same period last year.

Hina Nagarajan, CEO & Managing Director, said, “It’s a muted quarter amidst a softer than expected demand environment. We remain buoyant entering the festive season on the back of structural tailwinds including the reopening of the business in the state of Andhra Pradesh after a near 5-year gap. This reinforces our faith in the overall health and long-term fundamentals of the spirits industry & business in India. Our key focus remains on executional excellence to deliver sustained profitable growth, while maintaining the long-term competitiveness of our portfolio.”

Diageo-controlled liquor maker United Spirits Ltd reported a marginal growth in profit of 0.6 per cent for the second quarter of FY25 at Rs 341 crore in comparison to Rs 339 crore recorded during the corresponding quarter of FY24. It posted revenue from operations at Rs 6,672 crore, down 1 per cent as against Rs 6,737 crore during the same period of previous financial year.

On standalone basis, the company reported net sales at Rs 2,843 crore, registering a marginal decline of 0.8 per cent versus prior year same quarter driven by the normalisation of higher-than-expected growth in the first quarter, higher base last year due to festive inventory build-up and overall, relatively muted demand environment.

Dr Azad Moopen, Founder and Chairman, Aster DM Healthcare, said, “We are pleased with the momentum built in the second quarter of FY25, which reflects our unwavering focus on operational excellence and capacity enhancement. In H1 FY25, our India business achieved 18% YoY growth, reaching Rs 2,088 crore, driven by increased occupancy and growth in ARPOB. The Operating EBITDA grew by 44% YoY to Rs 410 crore and net profits (post NCI) grew by 88% YoY to Rs 171 crore in H1 FY25. The steady growth across our core businesses, combined with strategic cost optimization, has significantly strengthened our margins with H1FY25 Operating EBITDA margins standing at 19.6%.”

He also talked about the company’s plans to surpass approximately 6,800 beds by FY27.

Aster DM Healthcare Ltd released its fiscal second quarter earnings with profit at Rs 96.84 crore in comparison to a loss of Rs 30.80 crore recorded during the corresponding quarter of FY24. It posted revenue from operations at Rs 1086.44 crore, up 16.9 per cent as against Rs 929.43 crore during the same period of previous financial year. The company EBITDA stood at Rs 381.4 crore, up 33.2 per cent YoY.

An analysis report by Centrum Broking said, “Given slowdown in urban consumption along with gradual recovery in rural lead to muted Q2. Home Care and Beauty & Wellbeing (60% of business) grew HSD backed by mid-to-high single digit volume growth, while Personal care and F&R declined by 5%/1.4% YoY. Rising competitive intensity in alternate channel and promotion activity in GT cut down gross margins to 51.0% (-169bp). Despite lower ad-spends (-14.9%), higher other expenses/staff cost +5.5%/+8.1% cut EBITDA by 1.3%, settling the EBITDA margin at 23.5% (-66bp) YoY. Considering the pace of inflation, HUVR expects low-single digit pricing growth in H2FY25. We expect margins improvement to be led by premium mix, judicious price hikes and operating leverage despite increase in media spends. We remain cautiously optimistic expecting LSD volume growth as near term operating environment continues to be competitive. Further to sharpen focus on core business, HUVR decided to separate Ice Cream business.”

Today, companies like ITC, Godrej Consumer Products, Colgate Palmolive (India), NTPC, JSW Energy, Adani Total Gas, Patanjali Foods, Petronet LNG, United Breweries, ACC, Adani Wilmar, Radico Khaitan, PNB Housing Finance, Bikaji Foods International, Castrol India, Cyient, LT Foods, GMR Airports Infrastructure, Glenmark Life Sciences, Westlife Foodworld, V2 Retail, DCB Bank, IndusInd Bank, among others are lined up to release their Q2 earnings report.

With major firms across sectors including Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), HCL Technologies, Infosys, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, Reliance Industries, HUL, Nestle India, Zomato, Paytm, Piramal Pharma, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, PVR INOX, Bajaj Auto, TVS Motor, Mphasis, Mahindra Logistics, having already released their Q2 numbers, the second earnings season is now in full swing.

Greetings! While major companies including TCS, HUL, HCL Technologies, Infosys, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, Nestle, HDFC Bank, Zomato, Paytm, and others having been announcing their Q2 earnings, we, at FinancialExpress.com, are continuously bringing all the updates on the performance by companies, what’s helping their growth and also what’s leading to a de-growth. We will continue to bring the latest updates through this live blog. Stay tuned.