Stocks to Watch; Reliance Industries, Mahindra Logistics, Trident, Lupin and others in news

Reliance Industries: Reliance Industries is reportedly close to sealing a cash-and-stock deal for the purchase of Walt Disney Co’s Indian operations. The US entertainment giant is considering selling a controlling stake in the Disney Star business, valued at $10 billion, while Reliance assesses the assets at around $7-8 billion. The acquisition may be officially announced as early as next month, potentially involving a merger of some of Reliance’s media units with Disney Star.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone: Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone has established a wholly owned subsidiary, Udanvat Leasing IFSC, with a focus on aircraft ownership and leasing.

Mahindra Logistics: In the July-September period of FY24, Mahindra Logistics, a third-party logistics service provider, reported a consolidated loss of Rs 16 crore, in contrast to a profit of Rs 11 crore during the same period last year. This downturn was influenced by reduced EBITDA and margin. Despite this, the company saw a 2.9 percent increase in revenue from operations, totaling Rs 1,365 crore, compared to the previous year. EBITDA during the same period fell by 20.6 percent to Rs 54 crore.

New Delhi Television: Media company New Delhi Television recorded a profit of Rs 5.91 crore for the quarter ending in September FY24, representing a 50.8 percent decline from Rs 12.01 crore the previous year. Furthermore, revenue from operations dropped by 9.7 percent to Rs 95.55 crore. However, there was a significant improvement sequentially, as revenue surged by 36.5 percent, following a loss of Rs 8.13 crore in the previous quarter.

Siemens: Siemens has filed a writ petition with the Bombay High Court challenging a show cause notice issued by the GST authority. The notice carries potential financial implications of Rs 245.9 crore, covering taxes, interest, and penalties.

Tech Mahindra: Tech Mahindra’s subsidiary, Tech Mahindra (Americas) Inc., has given the green light to divest its 30 percent shareholding in Avion Networks Inc. for $50,000.

Shoppers Stop: The department store chain, Shoppers Stop, has invested an additional Rs 5 crore in the preference share capital of Global SS Beauty Brands through a rights issue. This brings the total subscription of non-cumulative optionally convertible preference shares (NOCPS) by the company to 3,000 NOCPS of Rs. 1,00,000 each. In April of this year, the company had invested Rs 25 crore.

Vedanta: Mining firm Vedanta has announced the appointment of Ajay Goel as its Chief Financial Officer, effective from October 30. This follows the resignation of Sonal Shrivastava from the position of Chief Financial Officer, citing personal reasons, effective October 24.

Amber Enterprises India: Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund has acquired 2 lakh equity shares of Amber Enterprises India, equivalent to 0.6 percent of the paid-up equity, through open market transactions, at an average price of Rs 2,820 per share.

Delta Corp: The High Court of Bombay at Goa has taken cognizance of writ petitions filed by casino gaming company Delta Corp and its subsidiaries. Based on a statement by the tax authorities, the High Court has directed the Directorate General of GST Intelligence, Hyderabad, not to issue any final orders regarding tax notices totaling Rs 16,195 crore without prior permission from the court.

PNB Housing Finance: PNB Housing Finance reported a robust 46 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated profit, reaching Rs 383 crore for the July-September period of FY24. This impressive performance can be attributed to a reduction in impairments on financial instruments and write-offs. Net interest income also saw a 2 percent year-on-year increase, totaling Rs 661 crore. Notably, during the same quarter in FY23, a one-off event of Rs 160 crore was recorded due to benchmark rate resets. Excluding this one-off, net interest income grew by an impressive 35 percent year-on-year. Gross NPA (Non-Performing Assets) witnessed a substantial decline of 197 basis points, reaching 1.78 percent quarter-on-quarter during the quarter.

Lupin: The global pharmaceutical major, Lupin, has received approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) for its abbreviated new drug application for Fluconazole tablets. This allows them to market a generic equivalent of Diflucan tablets from Pfizer, Inc., in the United States. This product will be manufactured at Lupin’s Pithampur facility in India. Notably, Fluconazole tablets had estimated annual sales of $43 million in the US, according to IQVIA MAT data from July 2023.

NHPC: The state-run power company, NHPC, has achieved a significant milestone by completing the daylighting of the head race tunnel (HRT) of the Parbati-II Hydroelectric (HE) project with a capacity of 800 MW, located in Himachal Pradesh. This achievement is particularly notable as it was accomplished on the longest face of the HRT, which has an extensive length of 13.118 kilometers. The completion of this activity marks a substantial step toward the full project completion, expected by the end of September 2024.

Torrent Pharmaceuticals: The Ahmedabad-based pharmaceutical company, Torrent Pharmaceuticals, has reported a robust 23.7 percent year-on-year increase in consolidated profit, reaching Rs 386 crore for the quarter ending in September of FY24. During the same period, revenue also rose by 16.1 percent, totaling Rs 2,660 crore. Notably, the India business segment showed an 18 percent year-on-year growth, reaching Rs 1,444 crore, while the Brazil and Germany segments saw substantial growth of 36 percent and 21 percent, respectively. However, the US business segment faced a 15 percent decline, with revenue amounting to Rs 248 crore.

Mahindra Holidays and Resorts India: Arun Nanda has tendered his resignation as Chairman of the material subsidiary of Mahindra Holidays and Resorts India, Holiday Club Resorts Oy, Finland (HCR). This change is effective as of October 20, and CP Gurnani has been appointed as the Chairman of the Board of HCR, effective from October 21.

Trident: Trident, the textile company, has appointed Vinod Kumar Goyal as the Chief Executive Officer of its yarn business, effective from October 23. Vinod brings over four decades of valuable experience in the textile industry.

Alok Industries: The textile manufacturing company, Alok Industries, reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 174.8 crore for the quarter ending in September of FY24. This loss, though significant, represents a narrowing from the loss of Rs 191.5 crore recorded during the same period last year. The revenue from operations during the quarter declined by 20 percent year-on-year, totaling Rs 1,359 crore.

Bharat Heavy Electricals: The Appointment Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has officially approved the appointment of Koppu Sadashiv Murthy as the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of BHEL. Koppu Sadashiv Murthy was previously serving as the Executive Director of BHEL.

Power Mech Projects: The company successfully concluded its qualified institution placement (QIP) issue and approved the allocation of 9,01,789 equity shares to investors at an issue price of Rs 3,881.17 per share. Notably, this price represents a 5 percent discount to the floor price of Rs 4,085.44 per share, with the total allocation amounting to Rs 350 crore.

Visa Steel: Foreign portfolio investor Trinity Opportunity Fund I has exited the high-carbon ferrochrome-making company by selling its entire shareholding of 47.07 lakh shares, equivalent to a 4.07 percent stake, at an average price of Rs 15.75 per share. Interestingly, Lotus Global Investment Fund was the buyer of all shares in this transaction.

Future Consumer: Samson Samuel has been appointed as an Additional Director of the company and designated as Managing Director for a three-year term, effective from October 23. It’s worth noting that Samson Samuel was previously serving as the Chief Executive Officer of the company.

Tracxn Technologies: A foreign company, KB Global Platform Fund, has sold 7.93 lakh shares in the Bengaluru-based analytics firm, which represents 0.77 percent of the paid-up equity. The shares were sold at an average price of Rs 72.18 each.

Arvind and Company Shipping Agencies: The Gujarat-based chartering business operator is set to make its debut on the NSE Emerge on October 25. The issue price for its equity shares is Rs. 45 per share, and these shares will be available for trading in the trade-for-trade segment.