MEESHO

** Meesho MEES.NS slips 10% to 143.41 rupees

** E-commerce firm received tax demand of 15 billion rupees ($162.47 million) after market last Friday

** India's tax department made some additions to income reported by co for 2023-2024

** Co says order does not have major impact on financial position or operations

** YTD, stock down 12.3%; down 6.4% since market debut on December 10, 2025

($1 = 92.3250 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]))

** Shares of Meesho MEES.NS down 5% at 157.2 rupees

** E-commerce firm's Q3 net loss widens 13x from 374.3 million rupees a year ago

** Co's investment in ads and sales promotion, as share of net merchandise value, nearly doubled to 2.4%

** Expects adjusted core earnings margin to improve in next two quarters, driven by logistics cost recovery, operating leverage on user growth, tech investments

** Morgan Stanley ("Update"; increases PT from 169 rupees to 174 rupees) says contribution margin miss led by higher logistics costs, which the co did not pass on to consumers

**YTD, stock down nearly 13%, down 3.3% since debut on Dec 10, 2025

(Reporting by Mridula Kumar in Bengaluru)

(([email protected];))

Jan 30 (Reuters) - Indian e-commerce firm Meesho MEES.NS on Friday posted a wider third-quarter loss, in its first earnings report since its blockbuster market debut, as higher costs outweighed strong sales.

Its consolidated net loss widened to 4.91 billion rupees ($53.44 million) for the quarter ended December 31, compared to a loss of 374.3 million rupees a year ago.

($1 = 91.8770 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Komal Salecha in Bengaluru)

(([email protected];))

** Meesho MEES.NS down nearly 4% at 163 rupees after BofA starts with "neutral", PT at 190 rupees

** Brokerage does not see near-term upside after the recent rally post listing

** However, BofA adds co well-positioned to target value-focused mass market segment

** Expects strong FY26-29E net merchandise value CAGR of 26%

** Notes co's lean cost structure, asset-light model and negative working capital cycle make it one of India's most efficient consumer tech-focused businesses

** Last week, JM Financial also started coverage with a "reduce" rating; PT 170 rupees

** Since listing on Dec 10, MEES up nearly 48% from IPO issue price of 111 rupees

(Reporting by Komal Salecha)

(([email protected];))

** Meesho MEES.NS up 4.5% to 172.25 rupees

** JM Financial initiates coverage with "Reduce", PT of 170 rupees

** Says e-commerce co benefits from negative cash conversion cycle as it operates asset-light model, with platform acting as interface between sellers, buyers, logistics partners, content creators

** Sees revenue to grow at ~27% CAGR from FY25 to FY30; adjusted EBITDA to grow at 3.3% CAGR

** Adds new buyers need to be wary of significant supply post 6-month lock-in expiry

** MEES up 6% vs debut price of 162.5 rupees

(Reporting by Mridula Kumar in Bengaluru)

(([email protected];))

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.

By Shritama Bose

MUMBAI, Jan 8 (Reuters Breakingviews) - India's sizzling market for initial public offerings is sparking friction. Fund managers including Aberdeen ABDN.L, Capital and the asset management business of Nomura quietly boycotted e-commerce retailer Meesho's MEES.NS market debut in December after a unit of State Bank of India SBI.NS grabbed a hefty slice of the 54.2 billion rupees ($596 million) deal reserved for anchor investors. The standoff highlights growing pains within the country's $900 billion mutual fund industry.

SBI Funds Management, which oversees $139 billion of assets, picked up about a quarter of the shares Meesho offered to anchor investors, IFR reported at the time. That's more than twice the share a single buyer typically gets in a large offering. Among others walking out in protest were Norway's Norges Bank Investment Management and Nippon Life India as well as SBI compatriot ICICI Prudential Asset Management IICL.NS. For the issuer, a fight to own its stock is not a problem.

It does suggest a mismatch, however. SBI, which runs its investment unit in partnership with France's Amundi AMUN.PA, sweeps up roughly 15% of the 299 billion rupees ($3.32 billion) the industry gets every month in subscription payments towards equity funds, known as systematic investment plans. Inflows are set to increase as Indians become more affluent and move more of their money from bank deposits to the financial markets. SIPs, for example, are growing 25% annually, per Crisil Intelligence. And because of capital controls, Indians' growing wealth is largely captive to the domestic financial markets.

Large IPOs provide an easy opportunity to put that money to work because they let asset managers buy large chunks of stock in one shot, typically not an option with already listed companies. Trouble is, the amount of equity capital raised in IPOs and private placements is far more uneven than SIPs' growth. Proceeds last year were $55 billion, 20% below the 2024 tally, per Dealogic data. Analysts at Axis Capital expect demand for stock to overshoot supply in the next financial year.

That means more Meesho-style tussles between investors are likely. In the short term, that might push up valuations - shares in Meesho have jumped 64% since last month's IPO. Longer term, unless the supply of quality companies - and future earnings power - keeps up with the pace of financialisation, asset prices risk getting inflated. The Meesho spat is an early sign of potential distortions.

Follow Shritama Bose on LinkedIn and X.

CONTEXT NEWS

Major Indian and global asset managers boycotted the anchor tranche of Indian e-commerce company Meesho's 54.2 billion rupees initial public offering in protest at what they saw as an unfairly generous allocation to SBI Funds Management, IFR reported on December 5, citing unnamed people familiar with the transaction.

Aberdeen, Capital, Norges Bank Investment Management, Nomura Asset Management and mutual fund units of asset managers ICICI Prudential and Nippon India were among those that chose to withdraw from the anchor tranche rather than get fewer shares than they wanted, the report added.

Funds managed by SBI were allotted around 24.6% of shares in Meesho offered to anchor investors, according to the company's filings with stock exchanges.

(Editing by Una Galani; Production by Aditya Srivastav)

((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on BOSE/[email protected]))

** Shares of e-commerce firm Meesho MEES.NS jump 20% to 216.34 rupees after UBS initiates coverage with "buy" rating, PT of 220 rupees

** UBS expects co's focus on lower/middle income consumers in India's tiers 2 and 3 cities provide a growth runway, given that adoption accelerates among these consumers

** Expects strong growth with net merchandise value CAGR of 50% and revenue CAGR of 72% through FY30

** Points to EBITDA margin expanding from less than 1% in FY25 to 8.3% by FY30

** MEES jumped about 58% on Dec 10 debut with an 111-rupee issue price

(Reporting by Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]; Ph no. +91 9590227221;))

** Shares of Meesho MEES.NS rise 3.5% to 176 rupees on its second day of trading

** E-commerce firm invests via rights issue a 28.9 billion rupees ($321.05 million) in its unit which runs the application-based marketplace under the Meesho brand name

** MEES jumped about 58% in their debut on Wednesday

** Stock up 8.3% from yesterday's listing price

($1 = 90.0170 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Aleef Jahan in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]))

Dec 10 (Reuters) - Shares of Indian e-commerce platform Meesho MEES.NS jumped 46.4% in premarket trade on Wednesday, after drawing bids worth $28 billion for its $604 million initial public offering last week.

The stock listed at 162.5 rupees on the National Stock Exchange of India, compared with its issue price of 111 rupees.

(Reporting by Anuran Sadhu in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy)

(([email protected]; +91 8697274436;))