Power Grid's InvIT IPO, Rallis India Q4 Results, and Buzzing Stocks Today

Mon, 26 Apr Pre-Open | Monish Vora, TM Team

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Indian share markets ended lower on Friday.

Benchmark indices witnessed volatile trading activity and swung between gains and losses amid muted investor sentiment across global markets and on record single-day spike of over 3 lakh Covid-19 cases.

At the closing bell on Friday, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 202 points (down 0.4%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed lower by 65 points (down 0.5%).

Power Grid Corp and NTPC were among the top gainers.

Britannia and Mahindra & Mahindra, on the other hand, were among the top losers.

The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index ended up by 0.2% and 0.4%, respectively.

Sectoral indices ended on a mixed note with stocks in the realty sector, telecom sector and FMCG sector witnessing most of the selling pressure.

Power stocks, on the other hand, witnessed buying interest.

Shares of Tata Elxsi and Polycab India hit their respective 52-week highs.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX were trading up by 0.1% today at Rs 47,821 per 10 grams at the time of closing stock market hours on Friday.

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Top Stocks in Focus Today

Tata Motors will be among the buzzing stocks today.

Tata Motors last week said its British arm Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) will be suspending production at two of its plants from April 26, 2021, on account of supply chain disruption due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The company's wholly-owned subsidiary, JLR UK, is currently experiencing some Covid-19 supply chain disruption, including the global availability of semiconductors, which is having an impact on its production schedules and ability to meet global demand for some of their vehicles, Tata Motors said in a regulatory filing.

"As a result, JLR has adjusted production schedules for certain vehicles which means that the Castle Bromwich and Halewood manufacturing plants will be operating a limited period of non-production from Monday, April 26, 2021," it added.

Manufacturing would, however, continue at the Solihull plant.

Indus Towers share price will also be in focus today as the company has posted a net profit of Rs 13.6 billion for the January-March quarter, up 38% on a YoY basis. The company's consolidated revenues stood at Rs 64.9 billion for the March 2021 quarter, up 3% year-on-year (YoY).

Its consolidated earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased 17% to Rs 34.1 billion in the January-March period.

For the full year 2021, consolidated profit after tax (PAT) stood at Rs 49.8 billion, a dip of 1% YoY, while revenues stood at Rs 256.7 billion.

As per the Q4 results for FY21, Indus Towers added net 3,715 towers across 22 telecom circles in India, beating the previous quarter's record of 3,416 additions.

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Rallis India March Quarter Profit at Rs 81.2 Million

Rallis India, a subsidiary of Tata Chemicals, reported a consolidated profit after tax (PAT) (after exceptional items) of Rs 81.2 million for the March quarter. The company's consolidated PAT stood at Rs 6.8 million during the corresponding period last year, Rallis India said in a BSE filing.

Consolidated revenue from operations of the company during the quarter also grew to Rs 4.7 billion compared to Rs 3.5 billion in the same year ago period.

"The favourable agricultural activities in the last quarter were supportive of our domestic crop care business, which grew by 14% and seeds business by 7%. Exports were robust during the quarter. The ongoing harvest season is expected to support a continued growth in agricultural production aided by normal monsoon forecast," Rallis India Managing Director and CEO Sanjiv Lal said.

The company will continue to keep a close watch on the second wave of Covid-19 to ensure it can sail through the hard times, he stated.

"While positioning ourselves to meet the market requirements, we are also consistently prioritising the safety and well-being of all our employees and other stakeholders," Lal added.

Rallis India is one of India's leading crop care companies. The company's 2,300 distributors reach more than 40,000 retail counters across the country covering more than 80% of India's districts.

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Rallis is known for its deep understanding of Indian agriculture, sustained contact with farmers, quality agrochemicals, branding and marketing expertise and its strong product portfolio of comprehensive crop care solutions.

Power Grid Preparing to Launch InvIT IPO

Moving on to news from the power sector...

Power Grid Corporation of India is preparing to launch the first ever InvIT (infrastructure investment trust) IPO by a state-owned firm, on April 29.

An InvIT is a collective investment scheme similar to a mutual fund, which enables direct investment of money from individual and institutional investors in infrastructure projects to earn a small portion of the income as return.

Note that the above move by Power Grid comes at a time when the government has set a disinvestment target of Rs 1.75 lakh crore for FY22 and is betting big on initial public offerings (IPOs) by Life Insurance Corporation and Air India IPOs, after coming up short in the previous financial year.

Media reports state that this is a big transaction and the size of the IPO is likely to be around Rs 77 billion, with a primary component of around Rs 45 billion and the balance making up the secondary component.

The price band is likely to be announced on April 29.

Sources familiar with the matter said strong interest has been seen from stable yield seekers and a clutch of global pension funds, global long only funds, domestic infra funds and leading mutual funds and insurance players are keen on this offering.

"The power transmission sector has been insulated from the impact of Covid-19 and the government is looking to unlock value by monetising 5 assets," said a person familiar with the matter.

ICICI Securities, Axis Capital, Edelweiss Financial Services & HSBC Securities and Capital Markets are the investment banks working on the InvIT IPO according to the DRHP filed with markets regulator.

National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is another state-owned firm that is exploring an InvIT IPO to raise around Rs 50 billion.

So far, the private sector has seen two InvITs namely IndiGrid InvIT, backed by KKR and Sterlite Power Grid Ventures and IRB Infra InvIT, backed by the infrastructure firm and affiliates of GIC.

We will keep you updated on the latest news from this space. Stay tuned.

And to know what's moving the Indian stock markets today, check out the most recent share market updates here.

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