Adani Group firms end on mixed note; Adani Wilmar climbs 5 pc Shares of Adani Group firms ended on a mixed note on Thursday after rallying in the morning trade amid volatile trend in the broader market. Adani Wilmar stock climbed 5 per cent, NDTV rallied 4.99 per cent, Adani Power jumped 4.97 per cent, Adani Ports advanced 1.45 per cent, Adani Enterprises ended 1 per cent higher and Ambuja Cements advanced 0.99 per cent on the BSE. In the broader market, the BSE Sensex ended marginally higher by 44.42 points or 0.07 per cent at 61,319.51. Most of the Adani Group stocks had ended higher on Wednesday. Billionaire Gautam Adani’s embattled conglomerate said its balance sheet is “very healthy” and is laser focused on continuing business momentum, as it looked to reassure investors to keep faith in the group despite a share rout triggered by a damning report by a US short-seller. Group CFO Jugeshinder (Robbie) Singh in an earnings call said the group is confident of its internal controls, compliance and corporate governance. “Our balance sheet is very healthy. We have industry-leading development capabilities, strong corporate governance, secure assets and strong cash flows,” Singh said. The group has been under pressure since the Hindenburg Research on January 24 accused it of accounting fraud and stock manipulation, allegations that the conglomerate has denied as “malicious”, “baseless” and a “calculated attack on India”. Listed companies of the group have lost over USD 125 billion in market value in three weeks. Meanwhile, S&P Global Ratings on Thursday placed its ESG evaluation for Adani Transmission Ltd (ATL) ‘under review’ following the US short-seller raising governance issues at the group. When monitoring environment, social and governance (ESG) evaluations, S&P uses the term ‘under review’ (and the label ‘UR’) to identify certain ESG Evaluations as being potentially affected by changing events.
The move had also prompted the country’s largest organised retailer Reliance Retail to step into the value retail segment with Yousta, which was announced on Thursday. Like Intune, Yousta began its operations in Hyderabad, with plans to expand across the country. Intune has three stores – two in Hyderabad and one in Dombivli, near Mumbai, with plans to add another three more outlets in the coming months.
Nair had admitted on a recent earnings call that the apparel segment in general was witnessing moderation and that the value retail foray by Shoppers Stop could help the company tap into the growing trend for affordable fashion and lifestyle products, aiding sales growth.
That was an important statement for Shoppers Stop, which reported a nearly 37% year-on-year drop in net profit to Rs 14.5 crore in the June quarter of FY24, even as revenue grew only 4.8% versus the previous year to nearly Rs 994 crore.
On a yearly basis, the company had last reported a net profit of nearly Rs 114 crore in FY23 after three consecutive years of loss between FY20 and FY22 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. FY23 topline also jumped nearly 60% year-on-year to Rs 4,022 crore, the highest in six years, its results showed.