ICICI Bank reports excellent numbers

 ICICI Bank has reported 26 per cent jump in net profit in the fourth quarter of the fiscal 2019-20 at Rs1,221 crore as against Rs 969 crore a year ago.

The bank’s total income grew by 12 per cent to Rs 23,443 crore in the quarter ended March 30, 2020 from Rs 20,914 crore a year ago. The net interest income grew by 17 per cent to Rs 8,927 crore in the fourth quarter, from Rs 7,620 crore a year ago.

The net interest margin is the highest ever at 3.87 per cent in the fourth quarter.

Forthcoming IPO : Stove Kraft Limited

Stove Kraft Ltd, manufacturer of kitchen appliances is planning to lists its shares on the exchanges. The company has received markets Sebi's clearance in this regard.

The company is engaged in the manufacture and retail of a wide and diverse suite of kitchen solutions under Pigeon and Gilma brands.

The IPO is being lead managed by Edelweiss Financial Services and JM Financial.

The public offer comprises a fresh issue of equity shares aggregating up to Rs 145 crore and an offer for sale of up to 71,63,721 equity shares, according to the draft red herring prospectus.

HUL posts muted numbers

FMCG major Hindustan Unilever has posted a 3.56 per cent year-on-year  decline in its consolidated net profit at Rs 1,515 crore for the quarter ended March 2020. 

The company had posted profit of Rs 1,571 crore in the year-ago period. On a standalone basis, profit came in at Rs 1,519 crore, down 1.23 per cent against Rs 1,538 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

Revenue from operations  stood at Rs 9,055 crore, down nearly 10 per cent against Rs 10,018 crore in the year-ago quarter. 

The company has recommended a final dividend of Rs 14 for the financial year ended March 31, 2020 on equity shares of Re 1 each.

HUL closed at Rs 2205, down one percent in Thursday's trade. 

RIL announces rights offer.

RIL  has announced the much-awaited details of its rights issue, which is the India’s largest. The company is planning to raise Rs 53,125 crore by issuing one equity share for every 15 shares held by eligible shareholders as on the record date, which will be announced later.

This would mean an equity dilution of 6.7 per cent at the proposed issue price of Rs 1,257 per share (including a premium of Rs 1,247 per share). 

The rights offer price is at a 14 per cent discount to RI L's closing price of Rs 1,467, on Thursday.

RIL posts unimpressive numbers

Reliance Industries has reported a 33.5 per cent decline in its consolidated profit before tax at Rs 9,223 crore for the quarter ended March 2020 due to pressure in its petrochemicals business, higher expenses and exceptional items.

Net profit, after exceptional items was 38.7 per cent lower at Rs 6,348 crore from Rs 10,362 crore in the quarter ending March 2019. The company incurred a one-time loss of Rs 4,245 due to the Covid-19 pandemic induced lock down and inventory losses because of fluctuations in the global oil prices.

RIL's refining and petrochemical businesses, which was hurt by the corona-virus, declined 18.2 percent sequentially  to Rs 84,854 crore and fell 12.7 percent QoQ to Rs 32,206 crore, respectively.

The stock closed at Rs 1464, up 2.64 percent in Thursday's trade.

Banks lend helping hands to NBFCs

Amid liquidity crisis, Banks in India have started lending to Non-Banking Finance Companies, the highest since 2008, as the shadow lending industry bulked up before the financial year closure, which probably is also making banks lend more to them or provide moratorium on payments.

Total loans grew 4 percent in the same period at Rs. 3.57 lakh crores, data from RBI shows. While NBFC accounted 32 percent of the total, industry loans also grew, including MSMEs at 37 percent. 

Moody's slash India's growth rate

Moody’s Investors Service has slashed India growth forecast for calendar year 2020 to 0.2 per cent, from 2.5 per cent projected in March. For 2021, the rating agency expects India’s growth to rebound to 6.2 per cent.

The rating agency had cut its projections from 5.2 per cent to 2.5 per cent after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nationwide lock down on March 24.