Business News

Natural gas demand in India is likely to grow 7% in 2024 owing to higher usage in the industrial and fertiliser sectors, an executive with the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday. Heatwaves across the South Asian country will also drive up usage from the power sector, but total growth in natural gas use is expected to be slightly lower in 2023, when it grew nearly 10%, the agency added.

Shares of Campus Activewear on Wednesday rallied 13% after the company reported a 42.6% YoY increase in its PAT for the fourth quarter of the financial year 2024.The company also posted a 4.6% YoY increase in revenue at Rs 363.9 crore while the EBITDA rose by 16% at Rs 66.4 crore vs Rs 57.1 crore in the fourth quarter last year."Despite a challenging business environment, we remained committed to strengthen our balance sheet. The Company repaid its borrowing of INR 156 Crore in FY24, thereby achieving net-debt free status during FY24. Additionally, we have made significant improvement in our working capital days from 108 days in FY23 to 79 days in FY24 led by lower inventory and conscious trimming of receivable days," said Nikhil Agarwal, CEO of Campus Activewear.Here is how brokerages viewed the Q4 results:Motilal OswalThe ongoing weak environment, coupled with the churn in distributors and decline in O2O business partners, has hurt revenue growth. However, softgrowth in the TD channel offset the O2O/B2B business declines. Elevated SG&A expense will be a headwind for EBITDA margin improvement.Motilal has retained a 'buy' rating for Campus with a target of Rs 295.Also read: Hindalco shares surge 2% after company arm Novelis files 45 million shares in IPOJM FinancialPremiumisation/ASP-led growth will be lower as the company has pivoted to the mid/economy segment. On the balance sheet side, the reduction in debt and receivables is positive. Volume delivery has lagged expectations and the pace of recovery in the same & sustainability of margins will be a key monitorable for the stock in the near term, in JM Financial's view.JM Financial has maintained a 'buy' rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 285 with a view of 12 months.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)