The Indian share market opened higher on Tuesday, with the benchmark BSE Sensex gaining as much as 430 points, or 0.7%, to 61,177 levels in the first two hours of trade, led by index heavyweights NTPC, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Power Grid Corporation of India, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, State Bank of India, and Reliance Industries. Only four stocks out of 30 Sensex constituents were trading in red, with Axis Bank, Tata Steel, Larsen & Toubro, and Bharti Airtel falling up to 3% in early deals. While Axis bank shares tumbled on the block deal buzz, the remaining three stocks reeled under stress as investors reacted to their respective quarterly earnings reports, which were released post market hours on Monday.
On the Sensex pack, Tata Steel topped the losers chart by falling up to 3.3% to ₹98.15 on the BSE, followed by Axis Bank, which dropped 2.43% to ₹883.8 in the first hour of trade so far. Meanwhile, L&T share price dipped 1.67% to hit a low of ₹1,990, whereas Bharti Airtel shed 1.26% to ₹821.5 during the session.
Tata Steel drops on weak earnings
Tata Steel shares fell over 3% after the country’s largest steel maker reported a sharp decline in bottom line growth during the September quarter due to higher expenses and lower margins. The Tata Group company posted a 87.3% decline in consolidated net profit at ₹1,514.42 crore in July to September quarter (Q2FY23), compared with ₹11,918.11 crore in the year-ago period.
Consolidated revenues from operations dropped marginally to ₹59,877.52 crore from ₹60,387.13 crore in the same period last year.
The earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) plunged 62% YoY to ₹6,060.4 crore, while the operating margin shrunk by 1,713 basis points to 10.12%, due to sharp rise in raw material costs which jumped 57% YoY to ₹27,977 crore during the quarter under review.
The gross debt of the company rose to ₹87,516 crore as of September 30, 2022, compared with ₹82,597 crore in the June quarter.
L&T falls amid profit booking
Shares of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) dropped 1.7% intraday as investors resorted to profit booking after the engineering and construction major released its second quarter earnings.
The Mumbai-headquartered company reported a 22.5% year-on-year growth in net profit at ₹2,229 crore in Q2 FY23, whereas revenue rose 23% to ₹42,763 crore, compared with the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. International revenues during the quarter stood at ₹15,473 crore, constituting 36% of the total revenue.
The company recorded orders worth ₹51,914 crore at the group level during the quarter ended September 30, 2022, registering a growth of 23% over the corresponding quarter of the previous year. International orders at ₹17,341 crore during the quarter comprised 33% of the total order inflow.
The consolidated order book of the group was at ₹372,381 crore as on September 30, 2022, with international orders having a share of 28%.
Bharti Airtel slips as Q2 misses estimates
The share price of Bharti Airtel dipped over 1% in intraday trade on the BSE after the telecom operator posted strong growth in the September quarter, but still missed analysts’ estimates.
The telecom major registered an 89% year-on-year (YoY) rise in consolidated net profit for the September quarter to ₹2,145 crore, up from ₹1,134 crore in the same period last year. On a sequential basis, the net profit surged 33.5%.
The quarterly revenue of the Sunil Bharti Mittal-led company surged 21.9% YoY and 5.3% QoQ to ₹34,527 crore, with India business seeing a 22.3% YoY rise at ₹24,333 crore in Q2 FY23. Of all its businesses in India, the homes business rose 38.9% YoY in revenue, followed by mobile services at 24.8%.
The consolidated EBITDA stood at ₹17,721 crore, up 26.4% YoY and 6.7% QoQ, while the EBITDA margin stood at 51.3%, an improvement of 184 bps YoY. Airtel's average revenue per user rose to ₹190 in Q2, from ₹153 in the year-ago period.
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