Maruti Extends Production Shutdown, Avenue Supermarts Q4 Results, and Buzzing Stocks Today

Tue, 11 May Pre-Open

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Indian share markets ended higher yesterday.

At the closing bell yesterday, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 296 points (up 0.6%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed higher by 119 points (up 0.8%).

Coal India and UPL were among the top gainers.

Shree Cements and Britannia, on the other hand, were among the top losers.

Both, the BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index ended up by 0.9%.

Sectoral indices ended on a positive note with stocks in the metal sector, healthcare sector and capital goods sector witnessing most of the buying interest.

Glenmark Pharma and Tata Steel hit their respective 52-week highs.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX were trading up by 0.4% at Rs 47,930 per 10 grams at the time of closing stock market hours yesterday.

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Top Stocks in Focus Today

Among the buzzing stocks today will be Ajanta Pharma.

Drugmaker Ajanta Pharma has lined up a capex plan of Rs 2.5 bn for the current fiscal as it looks to expand its corporate office and production facilities.

The Mumbai-based drug maker operates eight manufacturing facilities in India and Mauritius, including two plants that have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA).

"During the current year (FY22), we are estimating the capex to be in the vicinity of Rs 2.5 bn. It will largely go towards maintenance and some new expansions for the corporate office and some key expansions in the facility," Ajanta Pharma Managing Director Yogesh Agrawal said in an analyst call.

The company had earmarked a capex plan of Rs 1.5 bn for FY20.

Consumer goods giant Hindustan Unilever (HUL) share price will be in focus as the company said it will provide 4,000 oxygen concentrators to India to help meet the medical oxygen requirement of home-bound patients and hospitals amid the devastating second wave of Covid-19.

The company, which will be putting in Rs 300 million in this initiative, has partnered with KVN Foundation and home healthcare company Portea Medical to put them to use.

Portea will have access to 3,000 concentrators, which will be provided free of charge to patients.

The remaining will be donated by HUL to hospitals at some 20 locations across the country, the company said in a statement.

Note that India is facing severe shortage of oxygen cylinders and concentrators in the grip of a deadly second wave of Covid-19. Most hospitals are working over capacity and are having to turn back patients due to shortage of beds and oxygen.

Avenue Supermarts Q4 Profit Jumps 53%

Avenue Supermarts, which owns the hyper-retail chain DMart, reported a 53% year-on-year (YoY) jump in its consolidated net profit at Rs 4.1 bn for the March quarter (Q4FY21).

The chain of hypermarkets had reported a net profit of Rs 2.7 bn in the corresponding quarter of last year.

Total revenue for the quarter stood at Rs 74.1 bn, as compared to Rs 62.6 bn in the same period last year.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in Q4FY21 stood at Rs 6.1 bn, as compared to Rs 4.2 bn in the corresponding quarter of last year.

Total expenses were reported at Rs 69.2 bn, up 16.1% YoY.

For the financial year ended 31 March 2021, the company reported a 13.7% YoY decline in net profit at Rs 11.7 bn, hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

While total revenue declined 3.6% to Rs 237.9 bn, EBITDA also fell 17.9% to Rs 17.4 bn in FY21.

After losing significant revenue in the first half of FY21, the company ended the fiscal with a 3.6% revenue de-growth.

Capital work in progress stood at Rs 10.2 bn against Rs 3.6 bn which means a stronger store addition pipeline.

The company had a healthy balance sheet with cash and equivalents of around Rs 26 bn.

To know more, you can check our in-depth coverage on the Avenue Supermarts Q4 performance here.

Maruti Suzuki Extends Production Shutdown

India's largest car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki has decided to keep its production facilities suspended for another week. The shutdown, which was announced as the country battled against the rising number of cases during the second wave of Covid-19, was to end on Monday (9 May), according to Maruti's original plan.

Maruti Suzuki has not given any reason behind the decision to extend the shutdown at its facilities. However, given that Haryana remains one of the worst-affected states due to the virus, Maruti would put the safety of its own workers as a priority before resuming operations.

Maruti has termed this shutdown as 'planned maintenance' like some of the other carmakers in the last few days.

The company had earlier announced that it will stop producing cars in the company's plants in Haryana for the first nine days of the month to make oxygen available for the healthcare and medical sector. The carmaker said that it uses a small amount of oxygen in its factories which can be channelized to address the oxygen crisis in the Delhi-NCR region.

Besides, it also said that the manufacturers of components use a much larger quantity of oxygen at their plants.

Maruti Suzuki also fears that demand for its cars may go down due to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions across the country. Earlier this month, the company had reported that its production had shrunk by at least 7% in April, compared to March 2021. It manufactured 159,955 units against 172,433 units it produced a year ago.

RC Bhargava, Chairman of Maruti Suzuki India, recently said in an interview that the carmaker may think about reducing production capacity under the current circumstances. He had said that the problem is on the "sales side because in several states there is a partial lockdown and there's a curfew in some states and the dealers who sell the cars are having to close down."

The ongoing Covid-19 crisis seems to be pushing the auto industry back after it began recovering from the slowdown last year due to strict lockdown for months.

And the Indian auto sector is now bracing for further fallout from the recent surge in cases.

We will keep you posted on updates 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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