Tata Communications to Piramal Enterprises: 4 companies shine with major turnaround in profits in Q3FY25

Indian stock markets have been witnessing a downfall in the last few weeks, triggered by both domestic and global factors. One of the major factors behind the ongoing sell-off is weak and inconsistent third-quarter earnings. Several sectors, including BFSI, FMCG, Auto, and the oil & gas industry, reported mixed Q3 results.

The December quarter results were impacted by weak demand due to domestic and global uncertainties, low household spending, and slower credit growth. Despite the downturn, few companies have shown resilience and rebounded in the third quarter of the current financial year (Q3FY25).

According to a report by the State Bank of India (SBI), around 4,000 listed companies reported a strong recovery in the December quarter after two consecutive quarters of negative EBITDA growth.

Tata Communications, Piramal Enterprises, Tejas Networks, and Amber Enterprises scripted a major turnaround in the third quarter of FY25 and reported robust standalone profits. These companies had reported losses in the third quarter of the previous financial year. Large order inflows, revival in business and improvement in margins led to net profits in the third quarter of FY25 for these companies.

Tata Communications

Key triggers for growth

According to company management, continued growth in digital revenues coupled with improvement in EBITDA margins led to a turnaround in the quarter. A review of non-core assets and subsidiaries also yielded positive outcomes. In Q3, the company entered into a share purchase agreement with TSI India to sell its entire stake in TCPSL.

Management recently told analysts that large deal funnel additions have increased by 50% year over year. Year-to-date order book growth has been healthy double-digit, and early signs suggest that Q4 is likely to be robust in revenue growth. Despite revenue growth, Tata Communications shares have dropped over 12.5% so far this year amid fall in boarder markets.

Piramal Enterprises

Key triggers for growth

The company management said that the business mix continued to steadily shift in favour of growth business, which comprises retail and wholesale 2.0. Growth AUM now accounts for 87% of its total AUM, compared to 34% in March 2022.

During the quarter ended December 2023, the company had made a regulatory provision of ₹1,676.88 crores in respect of its investments in Alternative Investment Funds (AIF's) pursuant to the RBI circular dated 19th December 2023. During the quarter ended 31st March 2024, based on further clarifications vide RBI circular dated 27th March 2024 and on account of subsequent recoveries from AIFs, the company had reversed amounts aggregating to ₹1,311.88 crores.

The company stated that the legacy discontinued book rundown is on track, and Alternative Investment Fund recoveries are coming in on expected lines. In Q3FY25, it recovered ₹551 crores of the AIF book, leading to a gain of ₹376 crores.

The AUM and margins also improved. Disbursements in unsecured products were down 12% YoY versus 24% YoY growth for the secured products. Piramal Enterprises shares have plunged over 13% in 2025 so far.

Tejas Networks

Key triggers for growth

The recovery was led by higher income, mainly from 4G shipments for the BSNL network to TCS, the final system integrator. For the wireless business, it completed RAN supplies for 27,000 sites in the third quarter, leading to a total of 86,000 sites delivered to date in BSNL's 4G/5G network.

The company also signed a 3-year contract with Vodafone Idea to supply equipment for their pan-India 4G and 5G mobile backhaul network. The order book at the end of Q3FY25 stood at ₹2,681 crore. Tejas Networks shares are down over 31% year-to-date.

Amber Enterprises

Key triggers for growth

The company stated that the business diversification strategy is unfolding with strong performance in consumer durables and electronic division.

Consumer durables segment clocked quarterly revenue growth of 67% in Q3FY25. On the other hand, the electronic division registered an increase of 96% during the quarter over the previous year.

The growth levers are in place for further rapid scale-up with the addition of business applications on the PCB Assembly front, and on the Bare board front, the Ascent facility expansion coupled with JV with Korea Circuit for HDI, Flex and Semiconductor substrates PCB will pave the way for growth, the company said.