Stock Market LIVE Updates: GIFT Nifty indicates a weak start; US markets mixed, Asia trades lower

Happiest Minds Technologies has executed a share purchase agreement to acquire 100% of the equity interest in the share capital of PureSoftware Technologies Private Limited on upfront cash consideration of 635 crores and deferred consideration of upto Rs 144 crore, which is payable at the end of FY25 on achievement of set performancetargets.

FMCG major Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) on Wednesday reported that underlying sales growth for its personal care business recorded a 10 percent fall due to a decline in its skin cleaning portfolio, which includes brands like Lux.

The overall beauty and personal care business had an underlying sales growth decline of 2 percent with flat volume growth.

The segment contributed 35 percent of the FMCG major’s overall revenue for the March quarter with sales of Rs 5,050 crore.

While the personal care segment saw a decline in sales, the beauty segment saw a 4 percent growth, the company said. Read More

Oil prices eased in early trade on Thursday as concerns about a potential slowdown in the U.S. economy amid prospects for delayed interest rate cuts outweighed worries over the risk of expanding conflict in the Middle East.

Brent crude futures dipped 9 cents, or 0.1%, to $86.95 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures slipped 7 cents, or 0.1%, to $82.74 a barrel. Both benchmarks lost less than 1% on Wednesday.

-Q4 misses estimates, margin guidance pushed out

-No meaningful recovery in sight

-Sequential growth from Q1FY25, however, growth acceleration unlikely in FY25

-Margin disappoints again in Q4

-Significant improvement hinges on growth revival

-Lower FY24-26 EPS by nearly 4-8 percent

LTIMindtree on April 24 reported a 1.2 percent year-on-year (YoY) decline in net profit at Rs 1,100 crore for the March quarter of the financial year 2024.

Sequentially, the IT services company’s net profit was down by 5.9 percent, coming significantly lower than Moneycontrol estimate of Rs 1,143.13 crore in net profit.

LTIMindtree’s consolidated revenue came in at Rs 8,892 crore, growing 2.3 percent YoY and decling by 1.4 percent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ), surpassing Moneycontrol’s estimates of Rs 8,971 crore.

The EBIT margin or operating margin declined sequentially to 14.7 percent from 15.4 percent last quarter, missing Moneycontrol’s estimate of 15.73 percent. Read More

-Q4 volume/underlying sales growth of 2 percent/1 percent a tad below expectations

-Modest EBITDA margin decline on high A&P

-Amid poor demand & rise in local competition, company delivered modest FY24 volume growth and earnings growth of 1 percent

-Outlook appears uncertain and growth lacklustre

Hindustan Unilever reported 6% fall in standalone net profit at Rs 2,406 crore for the fiscal fourth quarter as against Rs 2,552 crore in the year-ago period.

Hindustan Unilever’s sales rose only marginally to Rs 14,693 crore in the fourth quarter, with revenue in a key segment, beauty and personal care, declining 2.7%.

HUL announced final dividend of Rs 24 per share for FY24 on equity shares of face value of Re 1. Read More

PBT ex-capital gains was 4% above estimate helped by beat on NII/ Fee

Average deposit growth was 5% QoQ, a positive amid tight liquidity situations

RoA remains strong; CET 1 ratio improved QoQ by 4 bps to 13.7%

Deposit growth acceleration is next key re-rating catalyst

Axis Bank has reported a net profit of Rs 7,130 crore for fiscal fourth quarter as against a loss of Rs 5,762 crore in the year-ago period after it bought Citi Bank’s India consumer division.

The private sector lender’s net interest income (NII), the difference between the interest income it earned from lending activities and the interest paid to depositors, came in at Rs 13,089 crore, up 11.47 percent from the previous year’s Rs 11,742 crore.

Axis Bank’s gross non-performing asset (NPA) stood at 1.43 percent, down from 2.02 percent from the year-ago period. Net NPAs were at 0.31 percent compared to 0.39 percent. Read More

Trends on GIFT Nifty indicate a negative opening for the broader index in India, with a loss of 65.5 points or 0.29 percent. The Nifty futures were trading around 22,354.50 level.