Latest news with #642
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Atlanta Braves bullpen has Phillies fans removed for heckling Spencer Strider
The Atlanta Braves bullpen didn't take kindly to heckling from Philadelphia Phillies fans before Tuesday night's game. Citizens Bank Park was packed for Game 1 of a three-game set against the Braves. As Spencer Strider warmed up in the bullpen, some Phillies fans tried to get under his skin from the seats nearby. Advertisement Apparently, it went too far for the Braves bullpen, which called for security to remove fans from the area. Fan James Notor said he was warned he'd be ejected from the stadium if he returned to the bullpen area. The visiting bullpen at Citizens Bank Park sits near Ashburn Alley, where fans often direct their voices toward opposing relievers. The Phillies upgraded the area this past offseason, adding a climate-controlled space with sliding glass doors. During the game, Strider drew even more heat from the crowd after hitting Bryce Harper with a 95 mph fastball on his surgically repaired right elbow. Harper exited immediately, but X-rays were negative. He was diagnosed with a right elbow contusion. Philadelphia entered the game with the best winning percentage in baseball (.642) and led the NL East with a 34–19 record. Atlanta came in at 25–27, 8.5 games back in the division.
Mint
05-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
Treasury gains save SBI's day, but couldn't avert earnings downgrades
State Bank of India 's March quarter (Q4FY25) results would have been a flop show had it not been for one-off and treasury gains. The public sector lender benefited from a revaluation of security receipts issued by National Asset Reconstruction Co. Ltd, which included Rs3,850 crore from a big account, mainly booked in treasury income. Given its largest treasury operations in the country, SBI 's pinning hopes on further easing of bond yields, which would enable the bank to make more capital gains in the portfolio. Bond prices have been gaining since the Reserve Bank of India began its rate cutting cycle in February. Bond prices have an inverse relationship with bond yields. SBI is banking on treasury gains to maintain return on average assets of 1% for FY26 as its net interest margin (NIM) continues to be under pressure. Net profit fell 10% year-on-year to Rs18,642 crore in Q4FY25. Net interest income (NII) grew a mere 2.7% year-on-year as NIM for the whole bank (including foreign offices) fell steeply by 30 basis points (bps) year-on-year to 3%. Though NIM stabilized sequentially, the full impact of the two repo rate cuts of 25 bps each in February and April is yet to reflect. SBI's management anticipates another 50-bps rate cut. But for now, SBI is relatively better placed than its private sector peers in terms of a likely incremental hit to NIM. This is because SBI's share of MCLR-linked loans at 42% is higher than that of its private sector rivals. Repo rate-linked loans are at around 29% with the remaining book on fixed rate. Indian banks use MCLR, or the marginal cost of funds based lending rate, to determine the lending rates for various loans. Higher MCLR loans will be incrementally positive for SBI, but note that its NIM is already much lower than that of India's top three private sector banks. Fee income saw a robust 13% growth to Rs9,896 crore in Q4FY25. Operating expenses surged 18% year-on-year to Rs35,698 crore. SBI reiterated that it would look to improve its cost-to-income ratio by increasing income rather than by decreasing cost. However, this would be easier said than done as the current growth rate of expenses is much higher than that of income. Asset quality was decent with gross non-performing assets (GNPA) and net NPA declining sequentially by 25 bps and 6 bps, respectively. Still, NPA provisions jumped 72% sequentially to Rs3,964 crore. The management attributed higher provisions to the ageing of NPAs. For e.g., when a single loan account remains doubtful for one year, 25% of the secured loan amount has to be kept aside as provision, which goes up to 40% in the next year. Thus, the provision keeps on increasing for the same NPA. Moreover, SBI has lowered its loan growth guidance for FY26 to 12-13% from 14-16% even as it had a strong corporate lending pipeline of ₹ 3.4 trillion at the end of FY25. Loans and deposit growth for the bank stood at 12% and 9.5% year-on-year in FY25. An uncertain global trade environment amid ongoing tariff war was cited as the reason for this downward revision. The deposit growth estimate for FY26 is at 9-10%. Given this, many brokerages have trimmed their FY26 and FY27 earnings estimates for SBI. The bank has approved an enabling resolution to raise equity up to Rs25,000 crore, but this may not be the best time to raise money given expected margin pressures. While the SBI stock has declined from ₹ 912 on 3 June to ₹ 789, this correction is in-line with the halving of growth rate in NII to about 5% in FY25 from FY24.
Time of India
24-04-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Bharti Airtel dials DoT, seeks conversion of govt dues into equity
New Delhi: Bharti Airtel has written to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) seeking to convert its government dues into equity as per the telecom reforms package of 2021. Officials aware of the details told ET that Airtel wants a level-playing field when it comes to conversion of statutory dues into equity after the recent move, wherein government stake in Vodafone Idea increased to over 49%. Airtel didn't immediately respond to ET's emailed query. The demand from Airtel comes amid the government putting on hold a proposal to waive off 50% interest and penalties of the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues. The DoT's AGR waiver proposal was an attempt to give some relief to telcos that have exhausted all legal remedies. The telecom industry, which had been reeling financially due to cutthroat competition since the entry of Reliance Jio in 2016, took a hit when the Supreme Court in October 2019 backed the government's view and levied Rs1.47 lakh crore of AGR dues. That comprised Rs92,642 crore of licence fees and spectrum usage charge (SUC) dues to the tune of Rs 55,054 crore. Nearly 75% of the dues consisted of interest, penalties and interest on penalties. In its September 2021 bailout plan, the government allowed a four-year moratorium on payment of AGR and other statutory dues. That moratorium ends September 2025 for spectrum dues and March-April 2026 for AGR dues. Thereafter, the deferred payment cycle will start in 2026 and run till 2031 with 10% to be paid by March 31 every year. Like Vodafone Idea, Airtel too had availed the four-year moratorium on payment of statutory dues. But unlike Vodafone Idea, Airtel till now didn't approach the government for conversion of statutory dues into equity.
