ICICI Securities Limited Broker Research reports

Torrent Pharma (Torrent) is acquiring 49.2% stake in JB Pharma from KKR (46.4%) and employees (2.8%) at INR 1,600/share (aggregate value of INR 119.2bn, to be funded through debt).

We hosted Honasa Day, which featured presentations from Varun Alagh (Co-founder & CEO), Ghazal Alagh (Cofounder & CIO) and team. Given the management conviction, the evolution in the business strategy and the strength in execution, we reiterate our high conviction positive stance on Honasa.

We upgrade Go Fashion to BUY (from Add) with a TP of INR 1,200 (potential ~40% upside). Gautam exuded confidence about improving macros, store expansion plans for FY26 (after a soft FY25), plans (experiments) for portfolio diversification (women's top wear, men's products), channels (attempting MBO, franchising strategies) and international expansion (opened Dubai store recently).

GAIL’s FY25 performance was steady, with ~8% growth in EBITDA and ~7% growth in PAT. Going forward, the company is set to see strong profitability via the imminent tariff increase in the transmission business, but the company is cognizant of headwinds in gas demand for FY26.

We met Mr Subrat Mohanty, Executive Director and Mr Puneet Sharma, CFO of Axis Bank (Axis). The bank did not provide any guidance, though it acknowledges the healthy systemic liquidity; this, in conjunction with the hefty cumulative cut, should aid systemic loan growth, albeit with a lag.

We met Dilip Banthiya, CFO and Saket Somani, SVP - Finance & Strategy. Takeaways, Confident of reporting strong double-digit volume growth in P&A brands driven by expanding product offerings and widening distribution network.

Happy Forgings (HFL) is a leading manufacturer of complex, heavy-forged and precision-machined components. HFL’s focus on enhancing its capabilities has helped expand the company’s product portfolio and customer base across diverse segments (CV, PV, farm, OHV, industrials) and geographies.

We met Mr Praveen Kutty, MD&CEO of DCB Bank (DCB). Management is re-orienting DCB towards being customer-centric, as opposed to being product-centric earlier.

Shree Cement’s (SRCM) FY26 playbook, as articulated by Chairman Mr H M Bangur in a recent media interview (Link), seems decisive and leaves little room for ambiguity.

We attended Premier Energies’ (Premier) analyst meet. Premier is among the only two players who are building and are ramping up solar manufacturing capacity. India is building barriers and fending off Chinese competition.

We recently attended CEAT’s Investor Day to understand its medium-term growth strategy. Over the next two years, CEAT aims to gain leadership position in the PV replacement segment (currently, no. 3 player with 16% market share); it is also targeting ~200bps of market share expansion in the TBR segment.

Vodafone Idea’s (VIL) Q4FY25 ARPU rose 0.6% QoQ (Bharti down 0.1%, RJio +1.4%), on expected lines. However, VIL lost higher-than-expected subs, and data subs dipped marginally by 0.1mn despite initial 4G network expansion.

Century Plyboards (CPBI) reported Q4FY25 consol. revenue growth of 13% YoY. Plywood/laminates/MDF and allied revenues grew 9.6%/ 1.3%/37.2% YoY with volumes up 6.8%/0.5%/39.2% YoY (6-year CAGRs of 10.2%/2.7% / 16.3%), respectively.

Bosch India’s (BOS) Q4FY25 EBITDAM of 13.2% (flat YoY) was in line with consensus estimate. Gross margin improvement of ~300bps was offset by higher other expenses.

Natco’s Q4FY25 result was driven by better traction in gRevlimid and the momentum is likely to continue for next couple of quarters.

Deepak Nitrite’s (DN) Q4FY25 underlying print suggests margin pressure intensified in Q4 with rise in supplies from China, particularly for agrochemical intermediates.

Samvardhana Motherson International’s (SAMIL) EBITDAM at 9.0% was ~100bps below I-Sec estimate. Demand environment for light vehicles remains muted.

Varroc Engineering’s (VAR) EBITDA margin stood at 10.5%, down ~70bps YoY but ~50bps higher vs consensus/I-Sec estimate. Revenue growth was 11% YoY (adjusted), with 13% YoY growth in India operations.

Suzlon ended FY25 on a high with a strong set of result; in Q4FY25, it reported revenue of INR 38bn (+73% YoY), EBITDA of INR 7bn (+94% YoY) and adjusted profit of INR 5.8bn (~2x YoY) - adjusted for deferred tax of INR 6bn. The strong performance was led by execution of 573MW of wind turbines (2.1x YoY).

Cohance Lifesciences’ (Cohance) Q4FY25 pro forma financial performance was below our expectation. Momentum across its pharma CDMO (+31% YoY) was strong, while specialty chemical CDMO business growth (+75%) is beginning to recover.