Latest news with #AdityaBansal
The Print
9 hours ago
- The Print
Man absconding in UP Police recruitment exam paper leak case held
The STF had lodged a case against Ajay under sections 418 (cheating with knowledge that wrongful loss may ensue to person whose interest offender is bound to protect), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) and 120B (punishment of criminal conspiracy) of the IPC on February 29, 2024. Superintendent of Police (Rural) Aditya Bansal said Ajay, a resident of Shamli district, was arrested from Muzaffarnagar. Muzaffarnagar (UP), Jun 21 (PTI) A man who was absconding since 2024 in connection with UP Police Recruitment exam paper leak case has been arrested, police said on Saturday. He also said that the accused carried a reward of Rs 10,000 on his head. Following allegations of paper leak, the state government had on February 24, 2024 cancelled the police constable recruitment examination held on February 17 and 18, and ordered a re-test within six months. More than 48 lakh candidates appeared for the examination. The government had also announced that a Special Task Force (STF) would probe the COR NAV NB NB This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
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Business Standard
05-05-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Higher competitive pressures to cap DMart's margins in near term
The stock of India's largest listed pure-play retail company, Avenue Supermarts (DMart), has slipped over 10 per cent from its monthly highs. A weak operational performance in the March quarter and a muted near-term outlook due to intense competitive pressures and higher costs could lead to downward pressure on the stock. While the stock had dipped by 3.44 per cent in early trade on Monday, it recovered slightly to close 1 per cent lower at Rs 4,022. The retailer's revenue performance was healthy, registering year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth of 16.7 per cent, aided by network expansion as well as higher same-store sales (SSS) growth. While the company's store area grew 14 per cent, the rest was accounted for by a 2.7 per cent increase in revenue per store. SSS growth for units over two years old came in at 8.1 per cent. The company added 28 stores in the quarter, taking the total to 415. The Street, however, was disappointed with the margin performance and cautious management commentary. Even as revenue growth was healthy, led by robust footfalls, operating profit growth was only a quarter of the topline gain at 4.4 per cent. Gross margins were down 24 basis points Y-o-Y and 59 basis points sequentially due to a lower share of higher-margin general merchandise and apparel, while the share of FMCG increased. At the operating level, the profitability fall was sharper — 80 basis points over the year-ago quarter and 115 basis points on a quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q) basis. The operating profit margin was the lowest in 12 quarters. The company pointed out that increased competitive intensity in the FMCG space impacted gross margins. Further, a surge in wages for entry-level positions due to demand–supply mismatch of skilled workforce, and continued investments in improving service levels — including faster turnarounds on availability, checkouts, and future store openings — weighed on operating profits. The company also had a larger number of store openings during the quarter. Given the Q4 performance and management commentary, Goldman Sachs Research has cut its earnings estimates and maintained a 'sell' rating. Analysts led by Arnab Mitra at the brokerage have cut their FY26/FY27 earnings per share estimates by 6 per cent and 4 per cent, respectively, factoring in lower operating profit margins due to increased competitive intensity and inflation in areas like employee costs. The recent fund-raising by quick commerce (QC) players and competitive pressures on pricing could weigh on DMart's growth and margins, at least in the near term, believes Motilal Oswal Research. Over the long term, however, analysts led by Aditya Bansal say that DMart's value-focused model and superior store economics will ensure competitiveness and customer relevance despite the convenience offered by QC players. While the brokerage has cut its FY26–27 operating profit forecast by 5 per cent each due to heightened competitive intensity and rising retailing costs, it has reiterated its 'buy' rating with a lower revised target.
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Business Standard
28-04-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Listing of consumer verticals, new energy scale-up key triggers for RIL
Barring the upstream business vertical, most segments of the country's largest listed company by market capitalisation, Reliance Industries (RIL), performed in line or beat estimates in the March quarter of the financial year 2024-25 (Q4FY25). The key takeaway was the strong show of the retail vertical, which coupled with the digital business powered the 3.1 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth in operating profits at the consolidated level. The consumer businesses were thus able to offset the 10 per cent operating profit decline in the oil-to-chemicals or O2C segment. Given the recovery in retail, petchem margins and scale-up in new energy business, most brokerages have a buy rating on RIL. The stock is the top gainer among Sensex stocks in Monday's morning trade rising 4.2 per cent. In addition to the new energy business, Systematix Research believes that further re-rating is imminent with triggers being domestic growth in the petchem business, tariff hikes and broadband expansion in telecom, growth across retail's physical and online stores and listing of telecom and retail verticals. While there are multiple triggers going ahead, it was the recovery in the retail vertical which caught the Street's attention. After a slow start in the first half of the year on account of elections and monsoons, there was broadbased growth across key segments in the second half led by the festive season, weddings, Mahakumbh and an early summer. In addition to this, net addition of 238 stores taking the total store count to 19,340, robust footfall growth and strong traction in online sales also aided the retail topline. The gains were also reflected at the operating profit level for the vertical as the metric saw a 14.3 per cent jump over the year-ago quarter. In addition to the top line growth, what aided profit, according to the company, was three quarters of significant streamlining and rationalisation. Margins for the retail segment expanded by 25 basis points Y-o-Y to 5.8 per cent and was much higher than the Street estimates. Given the strong show, analysts led by Aditya Bansal of Motilal Oswal Research have raised their FY26-27 revenue and operating profit estimates by 2 per cent and have built in annual growth of 14-15 per cent in revenue and operating profit over FY25-27. The telecom business saw a 2 per cent growth in revenue on a sequential basis with gains from tariff hike and normalisation of subscriber base offset by two fewer days in the quarter. Net subscriber additions were higher at 6.1 million with growth both in 5G user base and ramp up in fixed wireless access user base. While average revenue per user was up 14 per cent Y-o-Y, they went up marginally by 1 per cent Q-o-Q to Rs 206.2 and was lower than Street estimates. While operating profit was 2 per cent higher, it missed estimates due to muted revenues and higher costs. On the O2C business, the operating profit was down 10 per cent over the year-ago quarter given weak transportation fuel cracks. On a sequential basis, there was an increase by 5 per cent on the back of modestly higher realised margins, higher marketing contribution driven by increased domestic placement and feedstock optimisation, says Hemang Khanna of Nomura Research. The upstream operating profit was a disappointment as operating profit dipped 8 per cent on a sequential basis due to lower KG D6 production.
