Indian benchmark indices were in an upbeat mood on Thursday, with the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty gaining nearly 2% by mid-session trade. Among individual stocks, two Tata group companies – Voltas and Trent – witnessed a spurt in buying, with shares rising up to 8.5% during the session so far.
Shares of Voltas, one of the country’s leading electronic company, gained more than 4% following a deal with Highly International (Hong Kong) Limited. Voltas shares opened with a gain of 3.29% today against previous closing price of ₹1,271 and rose as much as 4.25% to touch an intraday high of ₹1,325 on the BSE. The stock has been gaining for the last three days and has risen 9.7% during the period.
Voltas, the country’s largest air conditioning company, in an exchange filing said that its board has approved a proposal to enter into a joint venture arrangement with Highly International (Hong Kong) Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Shanghai Highly company, to engage in the business of design, development, manufacture, marketing, sale and service of inverter compressors for room air conditioners. The deal also includes motors for inverter compressors, and their associated parts including sourcing of raw materials and components required for manufacturing these products.
“The proposed JVC would have equity capital of ₹250 crore to be contributed in tranches by the aforesaid JV whom the agreement partners as under, subject to highly obtaining necessary is executed,” Voltas said in a filing on Thursday.
In the joint venture company, Voltas will hold 40% stake, while Highly International (Hong Kong) will own the remaining 60% shares.
Meanwhile, Tata group’s retail arm, Trent, rallied 8.5% to hit a 52-week high of ₹1,274.1 on the BSE. The stock has gained 10% in one week and 20% over one month period. Shares of Trent, which operates fashion retail store Westside and bookstore chain Landmark across India, has been rising amid earnings optimism following strong recovery in revenue with ease in Covid-19 restrictions and festive demand.
For the third quarter ended December 2021, Trent reported a 89% jump in consolidated net profit to ₹139.69 crore as against ₹73.94 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal. The revenue jumped 75% to ₹1,499 crore year-on-year against ₹853 crore revenue in the December quarter of last fiscal. The earnings were driven by a strong business rebound on the back of the rapid recovery in customer off-take.
Trent’s fashion outlet Westside registered revenues of over ₹1,000 crore for the quarter, up 49% on a year-on-year basis on the back of higher demand in emerging categories like beauty and personal care, inner-wear and home saw growing traction.
