ICICI Securities Limited Broker Research reports

Havells’ EBITDA margin has declined from 12.6% in FY10 to 9.9% in FY24 and we model it to be 9.3% in FY25E. There are structural as well as cyclical/transitory reasons for the margin contractions.

We recently hosted the management of Solar Industries (SOIL) for an interaction with investors. Defence and exports & overseas segments could shepherd growth over the next five years.

Gujarat Fluorochemicals (GFL) is at the cusp of inflection in earnings growth with revenue / EBITDA / PAT CAGR estimated at 20.4%/ 33.4%/ 46% over FY25-27E.

CIE Automotive’s (CAIL) Q4CY24 consolidated PAT of INR 1.8bn was lower than consensus estimate of INR 1.9bn, with ~4% miss in revenue and ~100bps miss in EBITDA margin.

Chalet Hotels (CHALET) has announced the completion of the acquisition of 141 keys 5-star luxury hotel – The Westin Resort and Spa, Himalayas (TWRS) in Rishikesh at an acquisition cost of INR 5.3bn.

LIC has performed well with 9MFY25 VNB growth of 9.1% and H1FY25 EV growth of 24% YoY. Strategic initiatives have tracked well consistently in terms of pushing its product mix towards non-participating (28% of individual APE in 9MFY25 vs 18% in FY24 and 9% in FY23) and revision in pricing/product strategy to maximise value for all stakeholders with changes like hike in surrender value.

ABB India (ABB) reported a strong Q4CY24 result with revenue of INR 33.7bn (+22% YoY), EBITDA of INR 6.6bn (+58% YoY) and PAT of INR 5.3bn (+54% YoY). EBITDA margin continued its uptrend to 19.5% for the quarter (+440bps YoY).

Nazara Technologies (Nazara) delivered robust Q3FY25 growth, led by ad-tech and gaming segments. Growth in ad-tech was led by the recent acquisition in the UK (Space and Time Media).

Samvardhana Motherson International’s (SAMIL) EBITDAM at 9.7% in Q3FY25, (up ~90bps QoQ) was above consensus’ estimate of 9.2%. Consolidated revenue was up 8% YoY, mostly led by inorganic growth amidst muted industry volumes.

Bajaj Consumer (BaCo) had another disappointing print with a 3% YoY revenue decline (~2% YoY volume decline) due to continued stress in wholesale channel for core ADHO (~80% revenue salience), while diversification journey continues, though at a moderated pace.