Stocks To Watch: Hindustan Unilever, Bajaj Auto, Vedanta, Zee, Century Textiles

Shares of Hindustan Unilever Ltd., Vedanta Ltd., Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd., and Century Textiles and Industries Ltd. will be in focus on Tuesday.

Hindustan Unilever on Monday announced that it has entered into a deal with the Indian division of A.O. Smith to sell its water purification business for an enterprise value of Rs 601 crore, equivalent to $72 million.

Vedanta opened its qualified institutional placement of equity shares on Monday at a floor price of Rs 461.26 apiece. The issue price will be determined in consultation with the book running lead manager appointed for the issue, according to an exchange filing. The company has not disclosed how much it hopes to raise from institutional investors.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. shareholders have approved plans to raise up to Rs 2,000 crore through a share sale as the struggling media company scouts for new investors after the collapse of the Sony merger deal. The board had cleared the proposal last week. Shareholders voted 98.79% in favour of the capital-raise plan.

The GIFT Nifty was trading 8.5 points or 0.03% higher at 24,628.50 as of 07:20 a.m.

Indian benchmarks opened higher in the first session of the week, with the Nifty reaching a fresh high at 24,600. After a knee-jerk reaction at the opening, the trade was lackluster, and the benchmark stock indices ended at a new closing high.

According to analysts, if the Nifty breaks above 24,610, a sustainable breakthrough could only boost further momentum.

Buy-on-dips strategy should be adopted for the Bank Nifty as long as the index holds above 51,750, suggest analysts. 52,800 and 53,000 will serve as strong resistance levels on the upside, they said.

The IT sector ran in the red on Monday, but analysts continue to remain bullish as the technical set-up looks positive for the Nifty IT index. A close above the all-time high will help the index grow, as per analysts.

• Hindustan Unilever: The company will divest its water purification business Pureit via a slump sale to AO Smith India at an enterprise value of Rs 601 crore. The FMCG giant said the sale is in line with its intent to focus sharply on core strategies.

• Vedanta: The company opened its QIP and set the floor price at Rs 461.26 per share.

• Zee Entertainment Enterprises: The shareholders of the company have approved plans to raise up to Rs 2,000 crore through a share sale as the struggling media company scouts for new investors after the collapse of the Sony merger deal.

• Century Textiles And Industries: Unit Birla Estates bought a 5-acre land parcel in Gurugram, Haryana, with an estimated revenue potential of Rs 1,400 crore.

• Lupin: The company divested its US commercial women's health specialty business to Evofem Biosciences for consideration of up to $84 million based on future contingent milestones. The drugmaker has set July 16 as the ex/record date for issue of dividend of Rs 8 apiece.

• Dr. Reddy's Laboratories: The drugmaker has set July 16 as the ex/record date for issue of dividend of Rs 40 apiece.

• Balkrishna Industries: The company completed setting up of a mould manufacturing plant at its Bhuj unit with a capex of Rs 300 crore.

• Ujaas Energy: The company approved bonus issue one for every four held. It will also raise up to Rs 500 crore via equity.

• Equitas Small Finance Bank: The bank approved the appointment of Narayanan NR, KS Sampath and Ramkumar Krishnaswamy as independent directors for three years effective July 16.

• PC Jeweller: IndusInd Bank accepted a one-time settlement proposal from the company for unsettled dues in terms including cash, equity, release of securities, and mortgaged properties.

Bajaj Auto, Century Textiles And Industries, L&T Finance, and Just Dial will be in focus on Tuesday as they announce their first quarter results.

Hatsun Agro Q1 FY25 (YoY)

• Revenue up 10% at Rs 2,375 crore versus Rs 2,151 crore (Bloomberg estimate Rs 2277.6 crore)

• EBITDA up 39% at Rs 330 crore versus Rs 238 crore (Bloomberg estimate Rs 287 crore)

• EBITDA margin at 13.9% versus 11.1% (Bloomberg estimate 12.6%)

• Net profit up 63% at Rs 131 crore versus Rs 80 crore (Bloomberg estimate 91.5 crore)

• Declared dividend of Rs 6 per share.

Jio Financial Services Q1 FY25 (Consolidated, QoQ)

• Revenue flat at Rs 417.8 crore versus Rs 418.1 crore.

• Net profit up 0.6% at Rs 312.6 crore versus Rs 310.6 crore.

SpiceJet Q4 FY24 (Consolidated, YoY)

• Revenue down 19% at Rs 1,738 crore versus Rs 2,145 crore

• EBITDAR down 83% at Rs 16.3 crore versus Rs 95 crore

• EBITDAR margin at 0.9% versus 4.4%

• Net profit at Rs 127 crore versus loss of Rs 6.2 crore