Category: Earnings

Renault sales growth falters on Asia setbacks

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Renault’s revenue rose by a smaller-than-expected 0.2% in the first quarter as the French carmaker suffered sales setbacks in India, China and South Korea, compounded by the effects of a stronger euro.

Revenue advanced to 13.16 billion euros ($15.93 billion), Renault said on Friday, well short of the 13.77 billion expected by analysts, according to an Inquiry Financial poll. The company’s shares fell as much as 4.4% in Paris.

Sales in key growth markets showed a “mixed situation”, Renault said, with Chief Financial Officer Clotilde Delbos blaming a “massive currency headwind” for the weak quarter.

“We were expecting a negative effect from that front, but to be honest, not of that magnitude,” she told analysts.

The euro has gained about 11% against the US dollar over the past year.

But the revenue slide also reflected lower deliveries in more volatile overseas markets.

While Europe and Russia showed solid gains, price-sensitive Indian registrations tumbled almost one-third as the Kwid mini-SUV’s early success gave way to decline and the larger Captur subcompact struggled to make inroads.

Chinese deliveries also fell 16.8% amid a continuing slump in sales for the recently consolidated Jinbei and Huasong commercial vehicle brands, acquired through a joint venture with Chinese carmaker Brilliance.

Sales by South Korean unit Renault Samsung Motors fell more than a quarter.

The quarter offers a “perfect example” of the ups and downs brought by Renault’s rapid overseas expansion, said one London-based analyst. “The economic risk is always above average.”

Renault shares were down 3.7% at 88.62 euros as of 0844 GMT, paring their gain this year to 9.7%.

The stronger euro cut automotive revenue by 4.8% or 575 million euros, further weakening the value of overseas sales. The overall volume increase contributed 275 million euros to revenue growth, and pricing improvements another 140 million.

Renault reiterated its 2018 market outlook and earnings guidance.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Growth in Biocon driven by biologics business, says Kiran Mazumdar Shaw

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

After Biocon Ltd, India’s biggest biotechnology company, reported its Q4 earnings yesterday, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairman and Managing Director,  spoke to CNCB-TV18, said, “The main reason for considering a stake sale is not to enter into higher debt.”

“Growth has been largely driven by our biologics business which has seen a jump of 47% year-on-year and our research services business saw a jump of 45%,” she said.

The main reason for growth in biologics business is the expanding footprint in the emerging markets and addressing shortages, Shaw told CNBC-TV18.

She said the company have seen strong Q4 which is a good note to end the fiscal year.

“Research services was impacted by fire incident but it is back to normalised growth,” she added.

On the growth front, she said the company is confident that FY19 will be a good year.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Bandhan Bank posts 20% jump in quarterly profits

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Bandhan Bank Ltd, which had a stellar market debut last month, reported an about 20 percent jump in quarterly profit, helped by higher interest income.

Net profit rose to 3.88 billion rupees ($58.09 million) in the three months that ended on March 31, from 3.22 billion rupees a year ago, the Kolkata-based bank said in a statement on Friday.

Gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans stood at 1.25 percent at end-March, compared with 1.67 percent in the previous quarter and 0.51 percent a year earlier.

Interest earned during quarter was up 25 percent.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Biocon posts 2% growth in fourth quarter profits

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Biotechnology major Biocon  posted 2 percent increase in its consolidated net profit at Rs 130 crore for the fourth quarter ended March of 2017-18.

The company had reported a net profit of Rs 127 crore for the corresponding period of the previous year.

Total revenue of the company rose to Rs 1,237 crore, up 27 percent, from Rs 974 crore in the same period of the previous year, Biocon Ltd said in a statement.

For the 2017-18 fiscal, the company posted a net profit of Rs 372 crore, down 39 percent, from Rs 612 crore in 2016-17 fiscal.

Total revenue, however, rose by 6 percent to Rs 4,336 crore during the fiscal ended March 31, 2018, as compared with Rs 4,079 crore in 2016-17.

“The muted FY18 performance was on account of continued pricing challenges in the generics business coupled with a planned plant shut down for requalification and lower licensing income in the biologics business,” Biocon chairperson and managing director Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said.

In addition, operational expenses related to our Malaysia facility impacted the bottom line, she further said.

“However, a positive fourth quarter is indicative of a normalised business trend. Recent approvals of our biosimilars along with the strong performance of Syngene are expected to positively impact overall performance in FY19,” Mazumdar-Shaw said.

The company’s board, which met today, also recommended a final dividend of Re 1 per equity share.

Biocon stock today ended 1.45 percent up at Rs 663.25 a piece on the BSE.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Pepsi revenue tops as developing markets make up for weak North America

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

PepsiCo Inc reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue due to double-digit growth in developing markets that offset another quarter of weak results in its North American beverage unit.

Like rival Coca-Cola, the world’s second-biggest beverage maker is introducing new drinks to claw back ground in a US market where sugary soda makers have suffered from consumers shifting toward healthier beverages, but its efforts are yet to bear fruit.

Sales in PepsiCo’s North America beverage unit, which accounts for nearly a third of total revenue and sells Lipton tea, Mountain Dew as well as Pepsi itself, fell 1%.

Chief Executive Indra Nooyi said on a post-earnings call that PepsiCo was determined to reverse three quarters of decline in beverage sales in North America and would step up spending on its marquee soda brand under a new “Pepsi Generations” campaign.

“We’ll go toe-to-toe and increase our spending in colas, in particular, but we’re going to remain very responsible on pricing,” Nooyi said, addressing competitive threats.

Earlier this week, Coke’s beverage sales blew past estimates, as it introduced four new flavors of Diet Coke and saw demand for Coke Zero sugar increase.

PepsiCo’s new marketing efforts could further pressure operating profits, which have already shown weakness in its North American operations of Frito-Lay, Quaker Foods and Beverages, due to higher input costs as well as bonuses paid out to certain US employees following President Donald Trump’s Tax Cut and Jobs Act.

Shares of the Purchase, New York-based company rose as much as 1.4 percent to $102.98 in early trading on Thursday.

Developing Markets Shine

First-quarter sales in Latin America rose 14%, while they increased 15% in Europe and sub-Saharan Africa.

Sales in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa climbed 7%.

This was in contrast to sales in all the company’s North America units.

The Frito-Lay snacking business rose 3.4% in the reported quarter, but missed expectations of 4 percent growth. Quaker North America sales were flat due to negative pricing.

“All North American units miss (but) LatAm surprisingly strong,” Evercore ISI analyst Robert Ottenstein said.

Excluding items, Pepsi earned 96 cents per share, beating analysts’ average estimate by 3 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Total revenue rose 4.3% to $12.56 billion, topping analysts’ estimate of $12.40 billion.

PepsiCo also stuck to its full-year 2018 guidance.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

IEX posts 16% rise in Q4 net profit at Rs 31 crore

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

The Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) today posted a 16% jump in its net profit at Rs 31.44 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2018 due to lower operating expenses and higher revenues.

The company’s net profit stood at Rs 27.04 crore in the quarter ended on March 31, 2017, the IEX said in a statement.

Its total revenue increased to Rs 62.86 crore in the fourth quarter from Rs 58.68 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal.

During the quarter under review, the company stated that the operating expenditures decreased by 26% to Rs 11.65 crore, mainly due to fall in technology cost, which resulted in increase in EBITDA margin from 73% to 81%.

It said that the depreciation and amortisation cost increased from Rs 86 lakh to Rs 2.93 crore.

During the last fiscal, its net profit increased by 16% to Rs 131.68 crore from Rs 113.58 crore in 2016-17.

Total revenue in the fiscal ended on March 31, 2018 increased by 10% from Rs 232.88 crore to Rs 256.07 crore.

Apart from approving the financial results, the board of the company today also recommended a final dividend of Rs 22 per equity share (of Rs 10 face value) and decided not to go ahead with the buyback of equity shares of the company.

Total volume of electricity traded across all market segments at IEX was 56,822 million units (MU), which is an increase of 26% over 45,174 MU traded in 2016-17.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Reliance Capital Q4 net profit up 36% at Rs 428 crore

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Reliance Capital has reported a 35.87% rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 428 crore in the fourth quarter ended March of 2017-18.

Its net profit stood at Rs 315 crore in the year-ago period.

Total revenue of company in the fourth quarter of the last financial year stood at Rs 5,007 crore, according to a BSE filing.

Reliance Capital’s consolidated net profit for the financial year 2017-18 rose by 20.53% to Rs 1,309 crore against Rs 1,086 crore in the previous year.

The company’s total income in 2017-18 financial year stood at Rs 19,898 crore.

It further said the company’s board has proposed a dividend of Rs 11 per share.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow