Bulls take charge

Nifty50: 18,349 ▲ 321 (+1.7%)
Sensex: 61,795 ▲ 1,181 (+1.9%)

Hello there, people!

In markets, as in life, the idiom ‘slow and steady wins the race’ holds true. There is a viral video  of students participating in a lemon-and-spoon race that illustrates this idiom perfectly. A few of them start quickly but fail to cross the finishing line, while a boy with constant speed makes it to the end.

• After a strong gap-up opening and positive global cues, benchmark indices closed higher.
• In all, 37 of the Nifty50 stocks closed in the green.
• India’s Index of Industrial Production (IIP) rose to 3.1% in September from -0.7% in August.

Among the Nifty sectoral indices, IT (+3.8%) and Financial Services (+2.1%) saw maximum gains, while PSU Bank (-0.6%) and Auto (-0.3%) were the top losers.

What’s trending

⭐ Hindalco’s profit plunges

HINDALCO (NSE): 428▲ 13 (+3.1%)

Hindalco reported a fall of 36% year-on-year (YoY) in its net profit at ₹2,205 crore. The fall in profit was due to a fall in aluminium prices and rising input costs. Meanwhile, revenue rose by 18% YoY to ₹56,176 crore. Its wholly owned subsidiary Novelis also reported a fall of 23% YoY in its profit, which was impacted by rising inflation and a rising dollar.

⭐  Apollo Hospitals' profit falls

APOLLOHOSP (NSE): 4,413▲ 128 (+2.9%)

Shares of Apollo Hospitals were upbeat despite the company reporting a fall of 18% YoY in its net profit at ₹204 crore. However, revenue from operations rose 14% YoY to ₹4,251 crore. Revenue from the healthcare services business grew 5% YoY to ₹2,277 crore, while the digital health and pharmacy business registered a growth of 43% YoY to ₹1,668 crore.

⭐  Zomato’s loss narrows

ZOMATO (NSE): 72 ▲  8.7 (+13.6%)

Food delivery provider Zomato’s net loss narrowed to ₹250 crore against a loss of ₹434 crore registered in the same quarter last year. However, its revenue rose 62% YoY to ₹1,661 crore. The gross order value growth was 23% YoY, driven by growth in both order volumes and average order value. The management said that the increase in contribution margin is driven by improvements on both the cost and revenue side.

⭐ Nykaa surges on block deal

NYKAA (NSE): 208 ▲  19 (+10.4%)

Shares of e-commerce company Nykaa surged over 19% intraday. The jump comes after foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) acquired a stake in the company via the open market. On Thursday, 14.7 million equity shares of Nykaa were bought at a price of ₹173.70 via block deals. Aberdeen Standard Asia Focus Plc (4.27 million), and Norges Bank on account of Government T Petroleum Fund (3.98 million) bought a combined 8.25 million shares of the company also through block deals.

In Focus

Amusement parks attract investors

Amusement parks create nostalgic feelings in most of us, evoking our childhood happy memories. In recent times, the theme park business seems to have attracted investors. What’s grabbing investor attention towards these companies? Let’s find out.   

Since April 2022, shares of major theme park operators, such as Wonderla Holidays and Imagicaaworld Entertainment have surged 53% and 142%, respectively, backed by upbeat quarterly results as business growth scales back to pre-Covid levels.

During the September quarter, Wonderla Holidays reported gross revenue of ₹69.7 crore, which is up nearly 59% compared to Q2 FY20 (pre-Covid period). Meanwhile, its net profit rose to ₹10.5 crore as against a profit of ₹0.1 crore in Q2 FY20. 

The company reported footfall of 4.7 lakh (Q2FY20 footfall: 3.5 lakh), while its average revenue per user (ARPU) was at ₹1,321. Backed by strong results, the company plans to expand its business by building two new parks in Chennai and Odisha. 

Similarly, Imagicaaworld Entertainment reported an over 30% rise in its total revenue as compared to Q2 FY20 at ₹37.1 crore. The total footfall was above the pre-Covid level at 1.7 lakh, while its ARPU grew by 7.7% to ₹1,537. The company reported profitability at EBITDA level. 

The company’s management has already approved a capital budget to upgrade the parks and the hotel properties, which will help drive the business growth. It will enhance its water park capacity by 25-30%.

High footfall and capacity expansion plans will ultimately benefit the company’s topline and future profitability.

IPO CornerOn Day 3, the IPO of specialty chemical manufacturer Archean Chemical Industries was subscribed 32 times. In comparison, the public issue of Five Star Business Finance received a weak response. The non-banking finance company’s IPO was subscribed 0.70 times on Day 3. Meanwhile, the Kaynes Technology IPO was subscribed 1.1 times on Day 2. IPO of Inox Green Energy Services was subscribed 0.4 times on its first day. Click here to apply for this IPO on Upstox.

Good to know

What is a block deal?

Block deals are huge delivery-only share transactions with a minimum value of ₹5 crore or five lakh shares of a listed company, which generally take place between institutional investors such as mutual funds or insurance companies. Such deals happen through a separate trading window in the pre-opening minutes of the market opening and are not visible to the regular market. Investors often track block deals to judge sentiments and the interest of big investors in a stock.

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