ICICI Securities Limited Broker Research reports

Gravita India’s (GRAV) Q2FY25 performance was in line with our estimates. Key points: 1) Production volume rose 7.7% YoY aided by Lead (Pb), growing at 8.7% YoY. 2) Profitability was aided by LME-MCX arbitrage.

Indus Towers’ (Indus) Q2FY25 performance was good on two counts: 1) stable net tenancy addition at 4,308 with some benefit already showing from VIL/BSNL rollout; and 2) strong cash collection, including INR 10.8bn collected towards past overdue.

UltraTech Cement’s (UTCEM) focus on increasing its capacity/market share and enhancing efficiency remains heartening. However, in Q2FY25, the sectoral pangs of subdued demand and weak prices got the better of the industry leader.

City Union Bank (CUBK) reported better than our expected set of results with Q2FY25 PAT of INR 2.85bn (9% beat; RoA of 1.59%) aided by improved asset/earnings quality.

Rossari Biotech’s (Rossari) Q2FY25 HPPC revenue growth (+6.2% YoY) was hurt from softer demand and restricted ethylene oxide (EO) capacity.

Despite 9% YoY growth in NII, Axis Bank (Axis) reported Q2FY25 PAT of INR 69.2bn, up 18% YoY, driven by strong treasury gains (INR 11.1bn) and contained opex.

Havells reported strong performance in B2C segment with 20% revenue growth YoY. Broad-based growth across segments led to strong revenues but higher operational costs weighed on margins.

Nestle’s Q2FY25 revenue growth was disappointing; it further de-accelerated to 1% YoY (vs 4% in Q1FY25) due to subdued consumer demand.

Polycab reported robust broad-based revenue growth YoY led by favourable demand tailwinds. All segments reported strong double digit revenue growth YoY.

Tata Communications’ (TCom) H1FY25 revenue print was muted due to subdued orderbook in FY24, and longer deal conversion cycle.