Indian markets closed the week on a negative note, with bellwether indices losing over a per cent compared to the week before last. The FOMC meet last week came in as a dampener for the market. Though the 75 basis point increase by Fed last week was on expected lines, the year-end target fed funds rate of 4.4 per cent has come in as a surprise. Even as the broad markets tended downwards, some stocks managed to buck the weakness and racked in good returns for their investors.

The stock of Noida based satellite television provider Dish TV India gained a whopping 46 per cent in the last five sessions. Interestingly the stock has nearly doubled in the last month. Jawahar Goel, Chairman and Managing Director of the company stepped down from the post and relinquished directorship from the board. The resignation came after a major fallout with its largest stakeholder Yes Bank, which owned a fourth of Dish TV. Yes Bank had earlier initiated legal proceedings alleging irregularities and had earlier approached Mumbai bench of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for complete restructuring of Dish TV’s board.

However, in the absence of favourable order from NCLT, the company moved the Bombay High Court, which last Tuesday asked Dish to respond to Yes Bank’s plea and will further hear the case on October 3. Dish TV reported revenue of ₹609 crore in June 2022 quarter, compared with ₹731 crore same period last year. Net profit of ₹18 crore for the period was about a third of its June 2021 quarter profit of ₹59 crore. On a trailing twelve month earnings basis, the stock trades at 4.7 times, compared to 66 times for the industry.

Even as investors continued to stay away from gold, with the price globally falling since mid-August, the stock of jewellery maker PC Jewellerwas a shining star in trade last week. The stock rose over 22 per cent in the past week, compared to the previous week.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court dismissed the petition by SEBI to review its April 2022 ruling, wherein it overturned the SAT (Securities Appellate Tribunal) and SEBI ruling that estranged or separated family members must be regarded as related parties. The company reported revenue of ₹547 crore in 1QFY23 vis-à-vis ₹247 crore in the June 2021 quarter. Operating profit of 15 per cent was twice that of 1QFY21 (7 per cent). PC Jeweller reported RS 74 crore net profit compared to a loss of 66 crore last year.

Sugar stocks were in the news last week. Reports regarding increase in export quota came in as a sweetener to the stocks of sugar producers. Even as most stocks rallied last week, the stock of UP-based Shree Renuka Sugars, led the pack with a 16.5 per cent gain over the week. The company has been reporting losses for almost a decade now, with FY20 being the only exception. While the company is slowly paring its debt, it is still high at ₹5,234 crore as of March 2022 about 43 per cent of its market capitalisation.

The only silver lining for the company is its ethanol expansion, wherein the company plans to double its capacity to 1400 KLPD from the current 720 KLPD. With the Ethanol blended petrol programme gaining momentum, the ethanol business is expected to give a new lease of life to the battered financials. In the June 2022 quarter, the company reported sales of ₹1,953 crore, versus ₹831 crore last year. The net loss for the quarter at ₹114 crore was lower than the last year’s reported loss of ₹241 crore.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW