Key Q4 Results Updates: With the likes of Maruti Suzuki, Wipro, Bajaj Finserv Infosys, TCS, HCL Technologies, HDFC Bank, Shriram Finance, Jio Financial, Reliance Industries, Tata Consumer Products, HUL, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Finance, Zomato, Jindal Steel & Power, Aditya Birla Capital, having already released their earnings for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, the Q4 earnings season is now in full swing. Market participants are today keen on the performance of players like Bharti Airtel, Siemens, Shree Cements, Colgate Palmolive (India), Oberoi Realty, Patanjali Foods, Radico Khaitan, Devyani International, PVR Inox, Bajaj Electricals, V-Mart Retail, Safari Industries (India), among others. Meanwhile, the street is also keeping a watch on how stocks are performing for the companies that have already released their earnings for the period.
The week will witness announcements from the likes of Mankind Pharma, ICRA, Mahindra and Mahindra, GAIL India, Jindal Stainless, LIC Housing Finance, Biocon, JSW Steel, among others
Siemens Limited announced the expansion of two of its 32 factories in India today. This is in addition to the capacity expansions of the Power Transformer factory in Kalwa and Vacuum Interrupter factory in Goa announced by the Company in November 2023. With this, total capex investment is expected to exceed Rs 1,000 crore, the company said.
The Board of Directors of Siemens Limited approved the proposal to demerge its Energy Business into a separate legal entity – Siemens Energy India Limited (currently a wholly owned subsidiary of Siemens Limited). Siemens Energy India Limited will be subsequently listed and will mirror the shareholding of Siemens Limited, upon the receipt of requisite approvals, it said.
Siemens announced that it has approved an investment of around Rs 519 crore towards capacity addition at Gas Insulated Switchgear Factory, Goa and Metro train manufacturing facility, Aurangabad.
Siemens Limited reported a jump of 70.2 per cent on-year in its March quarter profit at Rs 802.50 crore as against Rs 471.40 crore during the same period last year. It posted revenue from operations at Rs 5749.90 crore, up 18.4 per cent as compared to Rs 4857.80 crore during the same quarter the previous year. The company EBITDA stood at Rs 878.2 crore, up 41.4 per cent on-year.
Apollo Tyres board recommended a dividend of Rs 6.00 per equity share (i.e. 600 per cent) on face value of Re 1 each for FY24, subject to the approval of the shareholders at the ensuing AGM of the company, which shall be paid/ dispatched on or before 30 days from the conclusion of the AGM.
Apollo Tyres reported its fiscal fourth quarter earnings with profit at Rs 354.08 crore, down 13.7 per cent in comparison to Rs 410.30 crore during the corresponding quarter of FY23. It posted revenue from operations at Rs 6258.20 crore, marginally up from Rs 6247.33 crore during the same period last year. The company EBITDA stood at Rs 1028 crore, up 3 per cent on-year.
“We ended the year on a strong note with consistent performance across all businesses, both on customer metrics as well as financial parameters. India revenue (adjusted for Beetel) grew by 1.7 per cent with EBITDA margin expanding to 54.1 per cent, despite one day less in the quarter. Consolidated performance was impacted primarily by the devaluation of the Nigerian Naira. We added 7.8 million smartphone customers and delivered an industry leading ARPU of Rs 209. Our relentless focus on improving customer experience has resulted in 20 per cent churn reduction during the quarter. Our simple and clear strategy coupled with razor-sharp focus on execution enabled us to end the quarter with life-time high market share across all businesses. Our efforts on digitizing Airtel are now gathering velocity and is being visibly felt across all parts of our operations. At the same time, our return on capital employed continues to remain low due to the absence of tariff repair in the industry.”
– Gopal Vittal, MD, Bharti Airtel
Bharti Airtel’s ARPU for the quarter stood at Rs 209 as compared to Rs 193 in Q4FY23 driven by sustained focus on acquiring quality customers and mix improvement.
Bharti Airtel board also recommended a final dividend of Rs 8 per fully paid-up equity share of face value Rs 5 each and Rs 2 per partly paid-up equity share of face value Rs 5 each (paid-up value Rs 1.25 per share) for the financial year 2023-24. “The dividend is in proportion to the amount paid-up on each equity share of face value Rs 5 each,” it said in a regulatory filing.
Bharti Airtel reported its fiscal fourth quarter profit at Rs 2071.60 crore, down 31.1 per cent on-year in comparison to Rs 3005.60 crore during the corresponding quarter of last year. It posted revenue from operations at Rs 37,599.10 crore, up 4.4 per cent as against Rs 36,009.00 crore during the fourth quarter of FY23. The company EBITDA stood at Rs 19,590 crore.
Shyam S Bhartia, Chairman and Hari S Bhartia, Co-Chairman, Jubilant Ingrevia Limited said:
“The Agrochemicals sector, which faced dual challenges of overstocking of inventories and oversupply from China during the year, is yet to bounce back to normalcy. While the excess inventory situation is expected to ease out and volumes are likely to move, the prices may still remain under pressure due to excess supply of agrochemicals globally. We expect that sectoral recovery may still take 1-2 more quarters.
In the Pharmaceutical end-use segment, we witnessed stable demand trends with healthy volume placements during the quarter. Early signs of further improvement in demand in certain products are signalling near term outlook remaining buoyant, with significant pricing recovery yet to take place.
In Nutrition Segment, the demand is steady however prices remained under pressure due to excess supplies from China.”
Jubilant Ingrevia board recommended a final dividend of 250 per cent i.e. Rs 2.50 per equity share of Re 1 each for the financial year ended March 31, 2024. “The dividend, if approved by the shareholders, will be paid / dispatched within 30 days from the date of the Annual General Meeting,” it said in a regulatory filing.
Jubilant Ingrevia reported its fourth quarter profit for the financial year 2023-24 at Rs 29.25 crore, down 44.1 per cent in comparison to Rs 52.31 crore during the same period last year. It posted revenue from operations at Rs 1074.44 crore, down 6.2 per cent as compared to Rs 1144.98 crore during the third quarter of FY23. The company EBITDA stood at Rs 91.3 crore, down 11 per cent on-year.
The company board also recommended a dividend at the rate Rs 3 per share (150 per cent) of face value of Rs 2 each on equity shares for the financial year ended March 31, 2024. “The said dividend, if approved by the shareholders at the forthcoming 85th Annual General Meeting, will be credited/dispatched on or after Saturday, August 10, 2024. The register of members and share transfer books will remain closed from Saturday, July 20, 2024, to Tuesday, August 6, 2024 (both days inclusive) for the purpose of the forthcoming AGM and payment of dividend to be declared thereat,” the company said in a regulatory filing.
Bajaj Electricals recorded its fiscal fourth quarter profit at Rs 29.31 crore, down 43.5 per cent on-year in comparison to Rs 51.85 crore during the corresponding quarter of last year. It posted revenue from operations at Rs 1188.08 crore, down 8 per cent as against Rs 1291.97 crore during the fourth quarter of FY23. The company EBITDA stood at Rs 49 crore, down 48 per cent on-year.
Zydus Wellness announced the re-appointment of Tarun Arora as a Chief Executive Officer & Whole Time Director of the company for a further period of five years with effect from May 7, 2025. “Based on the recommendation of Nomination and Remuneration Committee and subject to approval of members by way of ordinary resolution, approved the re-appointment of Tarun Arora as a Chief Executive Officer & Whole Time Director of the company for a further period of five years with effect from May 7, 2025, liable to retire by rotation,” it said in a regulatory filing.
The Board of Directors at Zydus Wellness have recommended a final dividend of R 5.00 (@ 50 per cent) per equity share of Rs 10 each, subject to approval of the members at the ensuing Annual General Meeting scheduled to be held on August 2, 2024.
Zydus Wellness recorded a profit of Rs 150.30 crore during the fourth quarter of FY24, up 3.4 per cent in comparison to Rs 145.30 crore during the corresponding quarter of last year. It posted revenue from operations at Rs 782.60 crore, up 9.8 per cent as against Rs 713.00 crore during the fourth quarter of FY23. The company EBITDA stood at Rs 162.2 crore, up 12 per cent on-year.
Ajay Bijli, Managing Director, PVR INOX Ltd, said, “The key strategic priorities as envisaged above, should help the company in charting a new, less capital intensive and incrementally profitable growth path. Our endeavour is to redefine our growth strategy, focus on fixed cost reduction thus improving profitability resulting in enhanced return on capital and free cash flow generation.”
PVR INOX posted its fourth quarter earnings wherein it narrowed its loss to Rs 129.50 crore, from Rs 333.40 crore during the fourth quarter of FY23. It posted revenue from operations at Rs 1256.40 crore, up 9.9 per cent in comparison to Rs 1143.20 crore during the same period last year.
During the quarter, the company recorded 32.6 mn admissions (YoY growth of 7 per cent) with an ATP of Rs 233 (YoY de-growth of -2 per cent) and SPH of Rs 129 (YoY growth of 8 per cent). This led to a 6 per cent increase in ticket sales, a 17 per cent rise in food & Beverage sales, and a 15 per cent boost in Ad sales when compared to the same period last year.
Talking about the acquisition and integration of the Thailand KFC business, Ravi Jaipuria, Non-Executive Chairman, Devyani International Limited, said, “The transaction, which was completed during Q4, has been a significant milestone for us. This development has expanded our international footprint and the same is in line with our long-term growth objectives of having a mix of international business.” During the quarter, consolidated revenues from operations (including Thailand) stood at Rs 1050 crore with growth of 38.7 per cent on YoY basis.
In 2024, Devyani International opened 256 new stores, including 47 in the fourth quarter. As of March 31, the company’s total store count has reached 1,782, including the 283 KFC stores that it acquired in Thailand on January 18, 2024.
KFC-operator Devyani International on Tuesday reported its fourth quarter earnings with a loss of Rs 7.47 crore as against a profit of Rs 60.72 crore during the same period last year. It posted revenue from operations at Rs 1047.08 crore, up 38.7 per cent in comparison to Rs 754.98 crore during the fourth quarter of FY23.
“Zomato’s food business continued to report strong growth, ahead of industry averages. Expect momentum to continue with GOV/revenue CAGR of 18%/21% in FY24-26E, led by drivers such as: 1) increased frequency, 2) user growth, 3) ad revenue, and 4) higher platform fee. The management largely maintained its guidance of adjusted EBITDA breaching 4-5% near term, which per our assessment could move to 4.4% in FY26E. But based on higher ESOP inclusion, we cut FY26E EBITDA estimates for the food delivery segment 10% – ESOP charges may continue even beyond FY25 and may remain high (~INR 6bn in FY25E), versus our expectations of a sharp cut in ESOP expenses. This in turn may hit food delivery valuation by 10% (contribution to consolidated EV down to 46% from 58%).”
– Karan Taurani’s from Elara Capital
Highlights: (1) Continued buoyant margin performance led by lower input prices, higher realisation and benefits of strategic cost-saving initiatives undertaken, (2) international business strengthened further, following the acquisition of BevCo (South Africa and surrounding region) and agreement signed for manufacturing of snacks from May’25 in Morocco market, (3) moderate volume growth (+4.4% YoY) in domestic business despite delayed Holi, and (4) timely commissioning of three greenfield production facilities ahead of favourable (summer) season.
“The company is prudently expanding its domestic as well as international businesses which may maintain high growth rates. Backward integration, capacity expansion and operating leverage provide margin tailwinds. We remain positive on Varun’s strong business outlook but current valuations seem stretched,” said Aniruddha Joshi, Research Analyst, ICICI Securities.
Blinkit is accelerating its dark store addition trajectory, having achieved adj. EBITDA breakeven in Mar’24. Management guided for doubling store count to 1,000 by FY25 (~300 store pipeline ready).
“In our view, this is a strategic move to gain market share in QC through geographical expansion while competitors are still focused on profit improvement. Given faster growth ambitions, management has guided for near-zero EBITDA in the next 2-3 quarters. We have cut our Blinkit adj. EBITDA estimate for FY25E by 68%; however, FY26E Blinkit adj. EBITDA estimate is revised up by 11.4%. In FD, we think the recent innovations in bulk ordering and veg only fleet should boost revenue growth; while gold plan optimisation and priority delivery should aid further profit improvement,” said Abhisek Banerjee of ICICI Securities.
Bharti Airtel is all set to report its fourth quarter earnings today. According to a CNBC TV18 poll, the company is expected to post Q4 profit at Rs 2050 crore and revenue is estimated at Rs 38,315 crore.
Earlier in February, Bharti Airtel had reported a profit of Rs 2442.20 crore for the third quarter of FY24, up 53.8 per cent in comparison to Rs 1588.20 crore during the corresponding quarter of FY23. The company’s average revenue per user (ARPU) had increased to Rs 208 during the quarter as compared to Rs 193 in Q3FY23 driven by consistent strategy of acquiring high value customers and improved realizations.
APL Apollo Tubes net sales improved ~6% YoY and ~13% QoQ to ~Rs 45.7 bn, largely in line with our and consensus estimates of ~Rs 44 bn and ~Rs 45 bn, respectively. However, EBITDA declined ~13% YoY and remains flat QoQ at Rs 2.8 bn, slightly below our and consensus estimates of ~Rs 3.0 bn and Rs 3.1 bn, respectively.
“We cut our EBITDA by ~20% for FY25E and ~10% for FY26E to factor in volume underperformance. However, we retain our long-term positive stance and believe capacity addition & gradual ramp-up will be key volume drivers. Also, APAT’s industry-leading capacity and strong brand positioning bode well for margin. Despite being in capex mode, the company has turned net cash in FY24 and management targets to achieve a net cash of ~Rs 10 bn by end-FY25. Therefore, we reiterate Accumulate,” said analysts at Elara Securities.
Chalet Hotels’ Q4FY24 revenue increased by 23.8% YoY to Rs 4,183 mn. Hospitality revenue was up 23.6% YoY to Rs 3,829 mn while annuity revenue was up 25.9% YoY to Rs 354.
EBITDA increased 20.0% YoY to Rs 1,829 mn with a margin of 43.7% as against a margin of 45.1% in 4QFY23 and of 44.4% in 3QFY24.
PAT stood at Rs 824 mn with a margin of 19.7% as against a margin of 10.8% in 4QFY23 and of 18.9% in 3QFY24.
“Chalet currently trades at EV/EBITDA multiple of 23.7x/20.0x our FY25E/FY26E estimates. Currently, we have an ACCUMULATE rating on the stock with a TP of Rs 888,” said Jinesh Joshi , Research Analyst – Institutional Equities, Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt Ltd.