FIRSTCRY

** India's smallcap index .NIFSMCP100 closes down 3.5%, its biggest one-day pct fall since early June 2024

** Smallcaps earlier fell as much as 10.2% amid global markets sell-off on worries over trade war and recession in the U.S.

** Brainbees Solutions BRAE.NS biggest percentage loser on the index, closing down 9.2%

** Midcap index .NIFMDCP100 closes down 3.6%; Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders MAZG.NS top pct loser, down 8.9%

** Benchmark NSE Nifty 50 .NSEI closes down 3.2%, logs worst session in 10 months

** Smallcaps down 19.7% YTD so far, while midcaps down 14.7%

(Reporting by Meenakshi Maidas in Bengaluru)

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March 25 (Reuters) - Brainbees Solutions Ltd BRAE.NS:

• APPROVES INVESTMENT OF AED 9 MILLION IN FIRSTCRY MANAGEMENT DWC LLC

• TO INFUSE FUNDS UPTO 1.46 BLN RUPEES IN GLOBALBEES BRANDS

Source text: ID:nBSE1SFrkH

Further company coverage: BRAE.NS

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** Shares of FirstCry parent Brainbees Solutions BRAE.NS rise as much as 4% to 624 rupees, their highest pct gain since Nov 7

** Brokerage Kotak Institutional Equities initiates coverage with "add" and an fair value of 630, an upside of 3.6% from the current price

** Says growing scale, profitability will drive 17% revenue growth and 30% adjusted EBITDA over FY2024-27

** Kotak attributes growth to increasing customers and average order value

** Kotak sees weak macro demand trends, higher competitive intensity, higher raw materials prices among key risks

** BRAE set to extend gains for a second straight session

** Stock has fallen ~12% since trading debut on Aug. 13

(Reporting by Yagnoseni Das in Bengaluru)

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By Praveen Paramasivam

CHENNAI, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Indian coffee chain Blue Tokai is aiming for a nearly three-fold jump in annual revenue by 2027 before it decides whether to go public, its top boss told Reuters on Monday.

Coffee culture is growing briskly in India, with the affluent in bigger cities increasingly working and holding meetings in cafes.

To cash in on India's fast-growing $300 million speciality tea and coffee cafe market, Blue Tokai plans to operate about 350 cafes within the next three years in cities including Hyderabad and Chennai, its CEO and co-founder Matt Chitharanjan said. The firm, backed by Belgian investment firm Verlinvest, currently has over 130 cafes.

The company is targetting a yearly revenue of 10 billion rupees ($118.5 million) by 2027, Chitharanjan said. Its revenue run rate, or annual projected revenue, is 3.7 billion rupees this year.

Ensuring "healthy" profit margins will make the firm "an attractive IPO candidate," he said without elaborating.

While many consumer-facing businesses, such as food and grocery delivery firm Swiggy SWIG.NS and baby products retailer FirstCry BRAE.NS have gone public this year, riding a stock market boom, an IPO is currently not on Chitharanjan's mind.

"Market conditions will fluctuate and we are more concerned about reaching our internal goals," he said, adding that "well-capitalized" Blue Tokai has "patient investors" who are not pushing for an early IPO.

India's stock market has cooled from record highs this year, with the benchmarks logging their worst monthly performance in October since March 2020.

Blue Tokai has raised $81 million since its inception in 2013 and competes with Western brands including Starbucks, Costa Coffee, and domestic rival Third Wave.

Tata Starbucks, a joint venture between Starbucks and India's Tata Group, which has over 400 cafes, posted a revenue of 12.18 billion rupees last year, while Costa Coffee, with more than 179 cafes, recorded 1.52 billion rupees in revenue in fiscal 2024.

Costa Coffee, Starbucks, and McDonald's McCafe have announced more expansion plans in India. But Blue Tokai is not concerned.

"We're not at a stage of the market where there's a lot of competitive pressure," Chitharanjan said. "It's more about growing the overall market pie, rather than stealing share from each other."

($1 = 84.4050 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam in Chennai; Editing by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan)

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** Shares of Brainbees Solutions BRAE.NS jump as much as 7.9% to 560 rupees

** Baby products retailer reported a narrower Q2 consol net loss of 502.3 mln rupees (~$6 mln) from a loss of 1.01 bln rupees a year ago

** Q2 rev grew 26.4% y/y and its biggest segment, India multi-national, grew 18.8% y/y

** More than 1.5 mln shares traded as of 10:33 a.m. IST, 2.4x their 30-day moving avg

** BRAE was last up 3.7%, down ~20% since listing in August

($1 = 84.3940 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Meenakshi Maidas in Bengaluru)

(([email protected];))

Nov 14 (Reuters) - Brainbees Solutions Ltd BRAE.NS:

• SEPT-QUARTER CONSOL NET LOSS 502.3 MILLION RUPEES

• SEPT-QUARTER CONSOL REVENUE FROM OPERATIONS 19.05 BILLION RUPEES

Source text: [ID:]

Further company coverage: BRAE.NS

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Corrects to say stronger yen benefits SoftBank's profits in paragraphs 1 and 5

By Anton Bridge

TOKYO, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Japanese technology investor SoftBank Group 9984.T is expected to report a 287 billion yen ($1.87 billion) quarterly profit on Tuesday, boosted by successful portfolio company listings and a stronger yen.

Analysts are also looking out for signs of new investment momentum driven by SoftBank's robust balance sheet and management's bullish stance on artificial intelligence (AI).

The net profit forecast for July-September is based on the average of four analyst estimates compiled by the London Stock Exchange Group, and compares with a loss of 931 billion yen in the same period last year.

MST analyst David Gibson estimates an investment gain of $3.9 billion for the quarter, with the IPOs of two Indian companies - Brainbees Solutions BRAE.NS and Ola Electric OLAE.NS - seen generating income of $0.9 billion and $1 billion, respectively.

A drop of around 10% in the value of the dollar versus the yen over the period is expected to boost SoftBank's bottom line.

Analysts are eagerly awaiting SoftBank's investment plans, after Founder and Chief Executive Officer Masayoshi Son told an investment summit in Saudi Arabia last month that he was saving tens of billion dollars for the next big move.

The pace of SoftBank's new investments is already trending upward, reaching $1.9 billion in the April-June quarter, up from $0.3 billion in January-March. In early October, SoftBank also joined in the latest funding round for ChatGPT operator OpenAI.

Analysts are particularly interested in SoftBank's reported efforts to manufacture AI chips to rival market leader Nvidia, potentially through a collaboration between chip designer Arm O9Ty.F, in which it holds a 90% stake, and recently acquired chip manufacturer Graphcore.

They note that SoftBank made a deal with Arm to license its intellectual property in the most recent quarter, worth $43.2 million in revenue, which may be related.

In addition, SoftBank's sound financial position makes a large-scale investment possible.

It's balance sheet is "near the strongest it has been over the past five years", wrote Morningstar analyst Dan Baker in a note, adding that both S&P Global Ratings and Japan Credit Rating Agency upgraded their SoftBank credit ratings earlier this year.

Although SoftBank announced a $3.4 billion share buyback three months ago, this was substantially below what some analysts had called for and leaves ample room for further investment, they added.

($1 = 153.3100 yen)

(Reporting by Anton Bridge; Editing by Nicholas Yong)

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Nov 7 (Reuters) - Brainbees Solutions Ltd BRAE.NS:

• BRAINBEES SOLUTIONS - ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER OF STATE TAX, MUMBAI INITIATED SEARCH AT HEAD OFFICE

• BRAINBEES SOLUTIONS - SEARCH AT HEAD OFFICE AND WAREHOUSE IN MAHARASHTRA

• BRAINBEES SOLUTIONS LTD - TAX SEARCH HAS NOT IMPACTED THE OPERATIONS OF THE COMPANY

Source text: ID:nNSE5P1XWM

Further company coverage: BRAE.NS

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Oct 29 (Reuters) - Brainbees Solutions Ltd BRAE.NS:

• UNIT MADE FURTHER INVESTMENTS OF 55.9 MILLION RUPEES IN KITCHENOPEDIA APPLIANCES

Source text: ID:nBSE5hQvmW

Further company coverage: BRAE.NS

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Oct 21 (Reuters) - Brainbees Solutions Ltd BRAE.NS:

• BRAINBEES SOLUTIONS- MADE FURTHER INVESTMENTS OF 45 MILLION RUPEES IN DYNAMIC IT SOLUTION

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSE5gyKsv

Further company coverage: BRAE.NS

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