Q3 results previews: LIC, Zomato, Hindalco and IRCTC

A host of companies including Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), Hindalco Industries, IRCTC, and Zomato will announce their quarterly results today. While Zomato is seen reporting a widening on sequential losses, Hindalco's Q3 profit may take big hit on fall in aluminium prices. IRCTC may report a 15 per cent-plus growth in profit. With the change in the accounting policy, to transfer surplus funds from the non-par fund to the shareholders’ fund, LIC is seen reporting multi-fold jump in profits.

Zomato Q3 results preview

Emkay Global expects Zomato to report a loss of Rs 320.50 crore for the December quarter compared with Rs 250.80 crore in he September and Rs 378.90 crore in the year-ago quarter. Net sales is seen rising 65 per cent YoY to Rs 1,834.80 crore compared with Rs 1,112 crore in the year-ago quarter. Ebitda margin is seen at minus 19.7 per cent against minus 18.7 per cent in September and minus 44 per cent in the year-ago quarter.

Watch: Tech Layoffs: Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Zoom and now Disney; a look at major job cuts

Emkay said the food delivery business is likely to see growth moderation due to weakness in consumer spending and impact of discontinued Zomato Pro membership program. Revenue growth is expected to be in double digits sequentially on account of full-quarter integration of Blinkit and continued momentum in Hyperpure business. EBITDA loss is expected to widen due to full-quarter integration of Blinkit, although the food delivery segment’s profit is likely to improve.

Gautam Adani's Net Worth: From $9 Billion In 2020 To $126 Billion In Jan 2023

Investors can look for growth trends across MTU, GOV, AOV, transaction frequency, contribution margin in the food delivery business, particularly considering weakness in consumer discretionary spending. They would also like to hear about the management guidance on adjusted Ebitda breakeven in the Zomato (ex-Blinkit) business and expected losses in Blinkit.

Hindalco Q3 results preview

Elara Securities expects Hindalco Industries (including Utkal Alumina) to report a 44.2 per cent YoY drop in adjusted net profit at Rs 514.20 crore compared with Rs 1,734 crore in the year-ago quarter. Sales are seen rising 3.5 per cent to Rs 19,141.80 crore from Rs 18,963 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Elara Securities said it expects Hindalco to report a muted performance in December quarter. During the quarter, it said, average aluminium prices fell 15 per cent YoY and 1 per cent sequentially, which will have a negative impact on realisation for Hindalco's India business. Ebitda  per tonne of India aluminium business and Novelis is likely to fall in the range of 21-22 per cent QoQ, it said. Overall, the brokerage expects Hindalco's consolidated Ebitda margin to contract 500 bps YoY, but remain largely flat sequentially.

IRCTC Q3 results preview

For IRCTC, Prabhudas Lilladher expects ticketing volumes to be lower at 9.8 crore when compared with 11.6 crore in June quarter and 10.7 crore in September. However, IRCTC's tourism business is expected to witness strong rebound amid seasonality, the brokerage said. Prabhudas Lilladher said excluding last 11 days of December, the cumulative non-suburban PRS traffic stood at 15.97 crore. Assuming in the 3rd bucket period of December, passenger traffic settles down at 1.76 crore, similar to bucket-2, collective passenger traffic for the quarter would stand at 17.7 crore.

"Given 1.7-1.8 times passengers travel per e-ticket, we expect online bookings of 9.8 crore in 3QFY23. Overall, we expect IRCTC’s revenues to increase 62.7 per cent YoY to Rs 879.10 crore with an Ebitda margin of 36.2 per cent," it said.

Profit is seen rising 17.1 per cent to Rs 244.50 crore from Rs 208.80 crore YoY. Revenue is seen rising due to base effect and continued traction in non-convenience income & catering business.

LIC Q3 results preview

Emkay Global expects year-on-year APE growth for life insurers to moderate from H1FY22 levels on account of the stronger base and a marginal negative impact of the external environment in the December quarter. LIC, it said, is likely to see strong growth, helped by high growth in the group business.

Emkay Global sees LIC's profit at Rs 4,580.80 crore against Rs 234.90 crore in the year-ago quarter. It sees APE (annual premium equivalent) at Rs 13683 crore, value of new business (VNB) at Rs 1,965.20 crore and VNB margin at 14.4 per cent.

"We expect LIC's APE to grow 30 per cent YoY in 9MFY23, driven by 19 per cent YoY growth for Q3FY23 and 37 per cent YoY growth for H1FY23. We expect LIC to deliver VNB margin in line with H1FY23 margins, at 14.5 per cent for 9MFY23. With the change in the accounting policy, to transfer surplus funds from the non-par fund to the shareholders’ fund, we expect LIC to report PAT of Rs 4,580 crore in Q3FY23. For 9MFY23, we expect AUM to grow 10 per cent YoY to Rs 44,22,600 crore," it said.

Also read: SGX Nifty down 5 points: Asian markets, dollar movement, Q3 earnings, FPI flows & more

Also read: Adani Wilmar, Tata Power, Hindalco: What should be your strategy amid market volatility