HPCL jumps 4%: Will subsidy burden become nil in FY15?

Shares of HPCL jumped over 4 percent intraday on Thursday as rise in refining profitability and marketing profit improved March quarter earnings. It reported net profit of Rs 4609 crore as against loss of Rs 1734 crore sequentially. During the period, its margins jumped 9.2 percent from negative 1.9 percent in last quarter. Brokerages are upbeat about the company. Deutsche Bank has a buy rating on the stock with a target of Rs 470 per share. It feels that there will be nil oil subsidy burden on HPCL from FY15 onward and hence refining segment performance will improve. In FY14, HPCL had to bare oil subsidies of Rs 480 crore. Its refinery volumes improved 13 percent Q-o-Q to 4.3 MMT (flat Y-o-Y) with inventory gain of Rs 450 crore and forex gain at Rs 500 crore.

Bank of America Merill Lynch retains buy on it with a target of Rs 455 per share. It says that FY14 witnessed decline in loss of refining subsidiary and there was a rise in EPS despite 108 percent Y-o-Y jump in net subsidy bearing of Rs 480 crore. Its gross refining margin (GRM) was strongest in fourth quarter at USD 4.7/bbl. However, Barclays is underweight on the stock with a price target of Rs 250. “Consolidated EPS was 38 percent lower, likely hurt by losses in Bhatinda and Biofuels. HPCL’s investments and organic capex have yielded little over the last decade even as it looks to expand further – it announced USD 3 billion in additional refining expansions- weighing on returns further,” it said in a note.

At 11:40 hrs, the stock was quoting at Rs 416.80, up Rs 8.30, or 2.03 percent on the BSE.

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Five-fold rise in Q4 profit lift Essar Oil shares 19%.

Investors continued to buy shares of  Essar Oil on Wednesday after the India's second largest private refiner reported five-fold growth in net profit at Rs 1,008 crore in the quarter ended January-March, driven by higher forex gain, better operational performance and lower finance cost. The stock rallied as much as 19 percent intraday to touch a 52-week high of Rs 92.15.

Total income grew nearly 7 percent to Rs 25,274 crore in March quarter from Rs 23,650 crore in the quarter gone by. Gross refining margin improved to USD 10.12 a barrel as against USD 9.06 a barrel year-on-year. "Operationally we continue to do well with the refinery further optimising on its crude diet and product slate, which has resulted in the company delivering healthy GRMs," says LK Gupta, managing director and CEO. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) jumped 32 percent to Rs 2,053 crore from Rs 1,556 crore year-on-year. Essar Oil reported a foreign exchange gain of Rs 314 crore during January-March quarter. During the same period, finance cost declined significantly to Rs 694 crore from Rs 920 crore. At 12:50 hours IST, the stock was quoting at Rs 88, up 13.40 percent amid high volumes on the BSE. Posted by Sunil Shankar Matkar 

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NTPC March quarter net drops 29%

State-run  NTPC today reported 29.4 percent fall in its net profit at Rs 3,093.54 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2014. The country's largest thermal power producer had posted a net profit of Rs 4,381.61 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal, NTPC said in a statement. Total income of the company rose to Rs 78,921.66 crore from Rs 72,098.09 crore in the same period last year. Shares of NTPC rose 2.95 percent to close at Rs 129.25 apiece on the BSE

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PNB Q4 net dips 29% at Rs 806 crore

State-run  Punjab National Bank (PNB) today reported a 28.69 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 806.35 crore for the quarter ended March 31, mainly on account of higher provisioning for bad loans. The bank had a net profit of Rs 1,130.80 crore in the January-March quarter of 2012-13. Total income of the bank increased to Rs 12,498.23 crore during the fourth quarter of 2013-14, from Rs 11,552.84 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal. Provisioning for bad loans rose 45 per cent to Rs 2,139 crore during the quarter, as against Rs 1,478 crore in the same period a year ago. 

The gross non-performing assets (NPAs) stood at 5.25 percent for the quarter under review, up from 4.27 percent in the year-ago period. The net NPAs stood at 2.85 per cent at the end of the quarter. Interest income rose to Rs 11,101 crore in the January-March quarter as compared with Rs 10,378 crore in the corresponding period last year. For the full 2013-14 fiscal, 

PNB's net profit dropped 29.6 per cent to Rs 3,342.57 crore, as against Rs 4,747.67 crore in the previous year. Total Income rose to Rs 47,799.96 crore in FY 2013-14, from Rs 46,109.25 crore in the previous financial year. Interest income for the full fiscal stood at Rs 43,223 crore, up from Rs 41,885 crore in 2012-13. Shares of PNB were trading at Rs 837.45 apiece, up 0.38 per cent on the BSE.

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DB Corp Q4 profit increases 37% to Rs 76 crore

Media firm DB Corp  on Monday reported a 37.41 percent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 75.92 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2014. The company had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 55.25 crore in the same period of previous fiscal, DB Corp said in a filing to the BSE. Total consolidated income from operations stood at Rs 454.16 crore in January-March quarter, compared to Rs 398.10 crore during the same period of previous fiscal. For the financial year 2013-14, DB Corp's consolidated net profit increased to Rs 306.64 crore. It was Rs 218.13 crore in 2012-13. DB Corp's total consolidated income increased to Rs 1,859.75 crore in 2013-14 from Rs 1,592.31 crore in 2012-13.

"We have delivered a robust operating performance this year amidst a challenging marketing network. Our focus on sustaining and extending leadership in the core market, consistent focus on operational efficiencies as well as strong performance across non-print segments have enabled us to report significant growth," DB Corp Managing Director Sudhir Agarwal said. On future outlook, he said that DB Corp would continue to capitalise on the consumption potential of 'un-metro' markets. DB Corp publishes eight newspapers in Hindi, Gujarati, English and Marathi languages, including Dainik Bhaskar, Divya Bhaskar and Saurashtra Samachar.  It has also presence in the FM Radio segment through 'My FM' in 17 cities of seven states.

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Ranbaxy March quarter net loss at Rs 73.6cr

Drug major  Ranbaxy Laboratories today posted consolidated net loss of Rs 73.6 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2014 It had posted net profit of Rs 125.75 crore during the January-March quarter of the previous fiscal, 2012-13. Ranbaxy's net sales during Q4, 2013-14 grew marginally by 1.03 per cent to Rs 2,436.1 crore, as against Rs 2,411.1 crore in the year-ago period. During the quarter, the company recorded inventory and other costs write-off and goodwill impairment write-off of Rs 15.9 crore and Rs 43.8 crore respectively. 

Ranbaxy Laboratories CEO and Managing Director Arun Sawhney said: "Despite multiple challenges, Ranbaxy met its sales guidance and continued to build on its strengths. At the same time we continued to work closely with regulatory agencies to address their concerns." Ranbaxy scrip closed at Rs 464.50, down 1.06 per cent, on the BSE. On April 7, Sun Pharmaceutical announced it will fully acquire the troubled Ranbaxy Laboratories in an all-stock transaction with a total equity value of USD 3.2 billion.

Under the agreement, Ranbaxy shareholders will receive 0.8 share of Sun Pharma for each share of Ranbaxy. The combination of  Sun Pharma and Ranbaxy will create the fifth-largest specialty generics company in the world and the largest pharmaceutical company in India. Imports of Ranbaxy products from all its four plants in India have been banned by American regulator USFDA for violations of manufacturing norms. In 2013, the company agreed to pay USD 500 million fine after pleading guilty to felony charges over anufacturing and distribution of adulterated drugs in the US.

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Pfizer India Q4 revenue stands flat QoQ at Rs 251.69cr

Pfizer   announced its fourth quarter earnings with revenue for the period standing at Rs 251.69 crore, compared to Rs 252.19 crore year-on-year. 

For full year FY14, revenues stood at Rs 1004.27 crore, compared to Rs 947.98 crore in FY13. Profit before tax and exceptional items grew by 21 percent to Rs 339.58 crore, from 279.65 crore last year. 

Net profit stood at Rs 56 crore versus Rs 58 crore, year-on-year. The company had paid an interim dividend of Rs 360 per equity share during the year and has not declared any fresh dividend.

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Poll: Idea Q4 revenue seen up 5%, RPM likely to be flat

Idea Cellular  will announce January-March quarter earnings on April 28. According to CNBC-TV18 poll, the telecom operator is likely to see net profit grow 10.3 percent to Rs 516 crore from Rs 467.7 crore quarter-on-quarter. Analysts expect its fourth quarter revenue to rise 5.2 percent at Rs 6955 crore versus Rs 6613.1 crore sequentially, driven by volume growth and flat revenue per minute (RPM).
                                During the period, margins are seen to be flat as higher selling, general and administrative Expense (SG&A) and network operating expense may limit any improvement in EBITDA margin. Minutes of usage (MOUs) could also increase 2.65 percent since tariffs are largely flat in fourth quarter. 
                         Also, fourth quarter interest expense will have one month impact of the debt it has taken to acquire 1800 MHz spectrum.  The stock closed at Rs 140.50, up Rs 2.20, or 1.59 percent on Friday.

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How to play Reliance Industries after its Q4 results?

Energy conglomerate Reliance Industries posted a flat quarterly profit, in line with estimates, hurt by a slimmer margin in its oil refining business. Reliance, which operates the world's biggest refining complex in western India, said net profit for its fourth quarter ended March 31 rose to Rs 5631 crore from Rs 5589 crore a year earlier.

Analysts on average expected a net profit of Rs 5665 crore, according to CNBC-TV18 poll.

Net gross refining margin (GRM) jumped 22 percent (down 8 percent Y-o-Y) to USD 9.3 a barrel from USD 7.6 a barrel in previous quarter. It was far better than analysts' expectations of around USD 8.6 a barrel. GRM for the year 2013-14 was USD 8.1 a barrel as against USD 9.2 a barrel in previous year. 

So, how to play RIL hereon? Mehul Thanawala, VP - Research, JM Financial says: “We believe that on a fundamental basis Reliance is now on the right track. We are seeing petrochemicals volumes doubling over the next couple of years and therefore somebody who is already invested and has got a good uptick he should wait and hold with a slightly long term view.”

Thanawala says: “The numbers are stronger than what was expected; certainly operationally very strong. The stock has run up significantly over the last one month or so. Therefore, I would be looking at a marginal improvement from here not a very strong outperformance from here for the stock.” 

Thanawala expects to see Rs 980-1000 levels for RIL in the near term. “We are already at Rs 950. So, yes, 3-4 percent but there will be a pop on Monday. So, clearly then the uptick will be limited,” he told CNBC-TV18’s Anuj Singhal. 

Prakash Diwan, Altamount Capital Management says: “Given the kind of traction Reliance has seen in the last series, in this series itself it has done about 8 percent, the momentum would continue with these numbers. We could probably see it—mid-May possibly—reach that Rs 1050 mark as well.”

Prayesh Jain, IIFL says: “It deserves a thumbs-up on Monday morning. Overall, it is one of our top buys in the oil and gas space because believe that the core business is what is scoring for Reliance over the next couple of years. You talk about their off gas cracker or their coke gasification project, these projects will almost double the EBITDA from the petchem and refining business for FY17. We are only talking about big jump in their standalone earnings in the next three years. The main reason why the stock underperformed in the last three years was the earnings remained flat and now we are seeing good traction in earning. It definitely deserves a rerating. We believe that it is one of the top picks in the oil and gas space.”

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Wipro Q4 net up 10.5%, sees Q1FY15 revenue at $1.72-1.79 bn

India's third largest software services exporter Wipro 's IT services revenues met analysts' expectations and margin beat forecast but the guidance for June quarter is muted. Net profit of the company grew 10.5 percent sequentially to Rs 2,226.5 crore on revenue of Rs 11,703.6 crore (3.3 percent Q-o-Q) during the quarter. IT services revenue in rupee terms rose 2.8 percent Q-o-Q (up 24 percent Y-o-Y) to Rs 10,619 crore and dollar revenue increased 2.5 percent (up 8.5 percent Y-o-Y) to USD 1.72 billion during the quarter.
                          The guidance range for Q4FY14 dollar revenue was USD 1.712 billion to USD 1.745 billion and analysts had expected it at USD 1.720 billion and rupee revenue at Rs 10,541 crore. "Our focus on process simplification, automation and platform-based delivery continues to deliver results and we are seeing the benefits through improved productivity, reduced timelines in execution and greater business agility," says TK Kurien, executive director & chief executive officer. Wipro expects revenues from IT services business to be in the range of USD 1.715 billion to USD 1.755 billion during April-June quarter of financial year 2014-15. It says this guidance is based on conversion rate of 61.62 a dollar. Operational performance was very strong. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) grew 9.5 percent on sequential basis to Rs 2,605.4 crore and margin expanded 150 basis points to 24.5 percent in the quarter gone by. Analysts had expected both at Rs 2,409 crore and 22.85 percent, respectively. 
                                    For the year ended March 2014, EBIT came in at Rs 9,030 crore, up 29 percent compared to previous year and margin jumped 195 basis points to 22.6 percent. "We continue to systematically work on improving our operational efficiencies resulting in expansion of full year IT services operating margins by 195 basis points," says Suresh Senapaty, executive director & chief financial officer. Full year IT services revenue rose 18 percent to Rs 39,950 crore and dollar revenue jumped 6.4 percent to USD 6.618 billion. Wipro says it added 59 new customers in Q4. Some of the deals won during the quarter were: 1) Five-year infrastructure managed services contract with a Fortune 500 global leader in specialty chemicals. 2) Seven-year engagement with Xoserve, an organization which is an integral part of the restructured gas distribution market in Britain. 3) A leading apparel and footwear company has renewed its multi-year engagement with Wipro, for application support services in a managed services model. 4) Deal from a multinational telecommunications company to manage IT and network operations for enterprise business in India. 5) Large deal in the Basel II risk & compliance domain from a large state owned bank in India. Wipro, which has announced earnings after market hours, has declared a final dividend of Rs 5 per equity share for the year ended March FY14. 
                             The payout date for final dividend is fixed as July 31, 2014. Meanwhile, the company says its IT products segment delivered revenue of Rs 1,111 crore for the quarter, up 3 percent compared to a year-ago period and revenue was Rs 3,880 crore, down 1 percent Y-o-Y. Wipro's stock closed at Rs 585.55, up 2.39 percent on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

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