Den Networks, Biocon, Alembic Pharma and more — here’s why these companies made no money to investors even in a bull run

One of India’s leading relatiler’s shares were slashed by 50% in the last one year as the company reeled in losses as a result of the pandemic-induced lockdown.

Moreover, constant court hearings of the company with Amazon kept the stock under pressure during the period. Amazon and Future have been locked in a bitter legal tussle after the US e-commerce giant dragged Future Group to arbitration at Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) in October last year, arguing that Future Retail had violated their contract by entering into the deal with rival Reliance. The market capitalisation of the company stood at ₹2,738 crore as of September 9.

Shares of the cable television distribution company lost 33% in the last one year as the company’s financial condition deteriorated. In the June quarter, the net profit of the company dropped by 29% to ₹41 crore. Apart from this, the fact that Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries (RIL) backed out from the decision to merge Hathway, Den Networks and TV18 Broadcast into Network18 affected the company’s stock. The market capitalisation of the company stood at ₹2,347 crore.

Another cable television distribution company that delivered negative returns to investors in the last one year was Hathway Cable and Datacom. The stock fell 29% in one year. Declining profit by the company and decline by RIL to merge the Hathway with its other media entities hit the company’s stock badly. The market capitalisation of the company stood at ₹4,186 crore. In the June quarter, the net profit of the cable operator declined 26% year-on-year to ₹48 crore.

Shares of both Ujjivan Financial Services and Ujjivan Small Finance Bank have lost value in the last one year. The pandemic has badly affected the microbanking sector with Ujjivan Small Finance Bank witnessing losses due to a sharp rise in bad loans along with and high-level resignations over differences in provisioning against bad loans.

As many as eight board members including its managing director and chief executive officer Nitin Chugh at Ujjivan Small Finance Bank made a hasty exit in the last nine months. These developments have impacted the shares of the company.

The company widened its net loss to ₹40 crore in June quarter as against ₹28 crore in the previous quarter last year. Sales declined 52% to ₹19.65 crore during the period. Shares of the company slipped 19% in the last one year.

Moreover, a downgrade by two rating agencies on the film production and distribution company added to the concerns. Rating agency CARE cut its ratings from BBB- to D, citing delays or likely default in serving debt availed from banks. Moody's Investors downgraded the corporate family ratings to B2 from B1.

Shares of Zee Entertainment fell 18% in the last one year as analysts see pressure on margin and cash flows despite improving advertising and subscription revenue. The company in an analyst call reportedly said it will ramp up investments in its movie production business as well as Sugarbox — its online content delivery subsidiary. Analysts at Dolat Capital see this as a significant negative, impacting margin, others said the company is prepared to sacrifice margin to pursue growth.

The Bengaluru-based biopharmaceutical company reported a 35% decline in its consolidated net profit at ₹108.4 crore for June quarter mainly on account of its share of loss in associate startup entity Bicara Therapeutics. Revenues saw a muted growth on account of covid related operational challenges at Biocon's API facilities, both in Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

The pharmaceutical company reported disappointing numbers for the quarter ended June 2021 as consolidated profit fell 45.4% on year to ₹164.50 crore on weak performance of its US business. The US generics business registered a degrowth of 38% to ₹369 crore during the period.