For the December quarter, at least 50 businesses reported a net profit increase of more than 100%. Adani Power came in first place on the list with a massive increase in the bottom line. In Q3FY24, the company's total net profit increased to Rs 2,737.96 crore from Rs 8.77 crore during the same quarter the previous year. In the past year, the company's shares have increased by 184% as well.
On January 31, 2024, CRISIL Ratings raised its assessment of Adani Power's bank loan facilities to AA-/Stable, a two-notch improvement. Crisil Ratings stated that "the rating upgrade follows the strong improvement in the business and financial risk profiles of APL." Companies that reported net profits in Q3FY24 of more than Rs 50 crore are taken into consideration for the article.
On the list comes Indian Oil Corporation. During the reviewed quarter, the oil marketing company reported a 1,068% YoY gain in net profit, coming in at Rs 9,029.56 crore. In a report released this month, YES Securities stated, "Indian Oil Corporation's recent quarterly performance showcases a robust performance on surprise inventory gains versus an expectation of an inventory loss while integrated core margins in dollar per barrel were in line with our estimates." In the past year, the company's shares have increased by almost 100% as well.
During the quarter under review, the net profit of several big companies increased by around 500% to 900%, including Indian Metals & Ferro Alloys, Century Textiles & Industries, Jai Balaji Industries, Lloyds Enterprises, GAIL (India), JK Cement, and Swan Energy. Centrum Broking reports that the solid Q3 performance of GAIL was supported by the segment's strong EBIT contribution from petrochemicals and liquid hydrocarbons as well as the company's ongoing margin expansion in natural gas marketing.
"JK Cement reported good set of numbers for 3QFY24 with 20% and 17% beat on EBITDA compared to our and consensus estimates, respectively," Centrum Broking remarked in response to the company. Better-than-expected realizations and profitability for the gray cement business drove the beat. It was a huge surprise to the brokerage that JK Cement's gray cement business produced industry-beating EBITDA/mt of about Rs1250/mt.
More data showed that other big names in the industry, like Jindal Steel & Power, Punjab National Bank, CG Power, YES Bank, KEC International, Ceat, WPIL, JSW Steel, ACC, Thomas Cook (India), Welspun Living, Engineers India, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, Balkrishna Industries, Suzlon Energy, and Waaree Renewable Technologies, also reported 150%–450% growth in net profit in Q3FY24. On January 6, after the Reserve Bank gave HDFC Bank Group permission to purchase shares in the private sector bank, shares of YES Bank increased by more than 10%.
Emkay Global Financial Services shared its thoughts on Punjab National Bank, stating that the bank maintained a significant beat on PAT primarily because of restricted personnel costs despite provisioning for pay hikes and lesser provisions because of the reversal of NPI provisions on one lumpy client. PNB once again recorded a 4bps QoQ margin expansion to 3.15% owing to improved LDR and interest recognition on lumpy NPA recoveries, despite margin pressure across banks. With the new slippage run-rate being at a decadal low of 0.9% and NNPA at about 1% of loans, asset quality has continued to improve and should result in a significant decrease in LLP.
For the quarter that concluded on December 31, B Corp, LIC Housing Finance, Chennai Petroleum Corporation, Shree Cement, Gallantt Ispat, Adani Green Energy, Jindal Saw, Tata Motors, IIFL Securities, Adani Enterprises, Titagarh Rail Systems, Tube Investments of India, Cochin Shipyard, ISMT, Zensar Technologies, Bank of India, Interglobe Aviation, and Paisalo Digital all reported net profit increases of more than 100%. Cantor Fitzgerald just started covering Adani Enterprises, putting in an overweight rating and a 12-month price objective of Rs 4,368. However, Prabhudas Lilladher has a target price of Rs 1,010 and is bullish on Tata Motors. "Considering that JLR's volume ramp-up has produced good revenue, profitability, and free cash flow, we continue to have a bullish view of Tata Motors.The underlying economic strength, low input costs, reduced discounts, and emphasis on market dominance in the PV segment - driven by new model releases and increasing EV penetration - all help India CV.
