QUESS

** Shares of employment services firm Quess Corp QUEC.NS rise 3% to 654.7 rupees

** Co gets approval from National Company Law Tribunal for three-way split to create three publicly-listed companies

** More than 1.4 mln shares change hands, 5.2x its 30-day avg

** Avg rating of seven is a "buy"; median PT is 836 rupees - LSEG

** Stock has gained 6.5% so far this week

(Reporting by Ashna Teresa Britto in Bengaluru)

(([email protected] ; ( +91 8078332441))

March 4 (Reuters) - Quess Corp Ltd QUEC.NS:

• NCLT APPROVES COMPOSITE SCHEME OF ARRANGEMENT FOR QUESS CORP, DIGITIDE, BLUSPRING

Source text: ID:nBSE76WKC6

Further company coverage: QUEC.NS

(([email protected];;))

Feb 5 (Reuters) - Quess Corp Ltd QUEC.NS:

• QUESS CORP LTD - TAX DEPARTMENT IMPOSES PENALTY OF 164.5 MILLION RUPEES

• QUESS CORP - TAX DEPARTMENT IMPOSES ANOTHER PENALTY OF 381.5 MILLION RUPEES

Source text: ID:nBSE8b4nZZ

Further company coverage: QUEC.NS

(([email protected];))

** Shares of Quess Corp QUEC.NS rise 3.7% to 625 rupees

** Staffing solutions provider gets income tax department order for tax refund of 207.4 million rupees ($2.4 million) for assessment year 2017-18

** Stock set to snap four-session losing streak

** QUEC gained 26.6% in 2024

($1 = 86.5480 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Vijay Malkar)

(([email protected];))

Dec 26 (Reuters) - Quess Corp Ltd QUEC.NS:

• QUESS CORP LTD - HIGH COURT QUASHES 1.80 BILLION RUPEES DEMAND AGAINST QUESS CORP

Source text: ID:nNSE1blbks

Further company coverage: QUEC.NS

(([email protected];))

Dec 3 (Reuters) - Quess Corp Ltd QUEC.NS:

• APPROVED PURCHASE OF FOOD CATERING, FACILITY MANAGEMENT SERVICES BUSINESS

• PURCHASE OF BUSINESS OF ARCHER INTEGRATED SERVICES, ASTRIN TRADERS

• DEAL FOR 110 MILLION RUPEES

Source text: ID:nBSE90tl5g

Further company coverage: QUEC.NS

(([email protected];))

Oct 29 (Reuters) - Quess Corp Ltd QUEC.NS:

• RECEIVED DEMAND ORDERS FOR 603.7 MILLION RUPEES

Source text: ID:nBSE4TLJRV

Further company coverage: QUEC.NS

(([email protected];;))

Oct 24 (Reuters) - Quess Corp Ltd QUEC.NS:

• QUESS CORP - NCLT DISPOSED FIRST MOTION APPLICATION

Source text for Eikon: ID:nNSE3gmrR6

Further company coverage: QUEC.NS

(([email protected];))

** Shares of Quess Corp QUEC.NS climb ~5% to 747.70 rupees

** Workforce management firm's Q1 consol net profit more than doubled, helped by a one-time gain

** Excluding the gain, profit climbed 63% Y/Y, while rev rose 9%

** Profit margins expanded to 2.2% from 1% yr ago

** Stock up ~41% YTD after gaining ~27% in 2023

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]))

July 29 (Reuters) - Quess Corp Ltd QUEC.NS:

• QUESS CORP Q1 CONSOL NET PROFIT 1.04 BILLION RUPEES

• QUESS CORP Q1 CONSOL REVENUE FROM OPERATIONS 50.03 BILLION RUPEES

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSE7k3Ztv

Further company coverage: QUEC.NS

(([email protected];))

** Shares of IT services firm Allsec Technologies ALLS.NS surge as much as 20% to a record high of 1,011.35 rupees in heavy trade

** Co says March-quarter consol net profit came in 71% higher y-o-y, revenue from operations up 20.12%

** More than 1.1 mln shares change hands in the stock's most active session since May 2005

** Allsec stock up 52.2% YTD, after a 27.6% rise in 2023

(Reporting by Rama Venkat in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]; https://twitter.com/ramavenkat0607;))

** Shares of workforce management co Quess Corp QUEC.NS rise as much as 16.1% to 582 rupees; logs sharpest intraday pct gain since Oct. 27, 2022

** Stock of QUEC hits highest level since Oct. 19, 2022, eyes a fourth consecutive session of gains

** QUEC on Friday announced a three-way demerger of its diversified businesses

** Demerger to result in three separate listed cos, namely Quess Corp, Digitide Solutions and Bluspring Enterprises

** Volumes at ~11.8x the 30-day avg, making it the most active trading session since March 29, 2023

** Stock up ~10.5% in February

(Reporting by Anisha Ajith in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]))

Feb 16 (Reuters) - Quess Corp Ltd QUEC.NS:

• ANNOUNCES THREE-WAY DEMERGER OF ITS DIVERSIFIED BUSINESSES

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSE7pQb3Y

Further company coverage: QUEC.NS

(([email protected];;))

Feb 15 (Reuters) - Zaggle Prepaid Ocean Services Ltd ZAGG.NS:

• ZAGGLE PREPAID OCEAN SERVICES LTD - ENTERED INTO AN AGREEMENT WITH QUESS CORP

• ZAGGLE PREPAID OCEAN SERVICES LTD - GETS ORDER WORTH 100 MILLION RUPEES

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSE33wxsv

Further company coverage: ZAGG.NS

(([email protected];))

In Feb. 8 story, corrects to Blackstone Mortgage Trust, from Blackstone's real estate investment trust, in paragraph 13

By Mehnaz Yasmin

Feb 8 (Reuters) - Short seller Muddy Waters has placed bets against the shares of Canadian insurer Fairfax Financial FFH.TO alleging manipulation in its asset values.

Shares of the property and casualty insurer sank 12% on Thursday, and set for their worst drop since Sept. 2008.

Fairfax currently has a short interest of 0.65% of free float worth C$203.81 million ($151.36 million), with short sellers having made over C$21 million in paper profits so far today, according to data from Ortex.

The Canadian company's insurance business has struggled to remain profitable even after the hurricane-related catastrophes in 2017, Muddy Waters wrote in a research note.

"This underperformance pressured Fairfax into becoming aggressive in pulling accounting levers starting in 2018," the short seller said.

"We find that Fairfax has consistently manipulated asset values and income by engaging in often value destructive transactions to produce accounting gains," it added.

Fairfax disagreed with the report, while assuring shareholders it "has prepared its financial statements and reporting in accordance with all applicable accounting principles".

Reuters was not immediately able to verify the allegations made in the report. Short sellers make money by betting that the price of a security (such as a stock) will decrease.

Fairfax was founded in 1985 by Canadian-Indian billionaire Prem Watsa, who is also its chairman and CEO. He is also known as 'Canada's Warren Buffett'.

"We see Fairfax as far more akin to GE than to Berkshire Hathaway," the hedge fund said.

It also alleged Fairfax carried several of its investments at "unrealistic" carrying values. According to the hedge fund, the market value of its shares in Indian outsourcing provider Quess Corp QUEC.NS was $477.2 million, while Fairfax continued to carry it at about $1 billion.

In 2019, Fairfax raised its stake in Quess to more than 32% after acquiring over 256,000 shares. As of Sept. 30, it carries the Indian company at a 87% premium to its market value, Muddy Waters said.

Last year, Muddy Waters bet against the credit of the Luxembourg-based commercial landlord CPI Property Group O5G.DE in November and Blackstone Mortgage Trust BXMT.N in December.

Fairfax becoming the latest short-seller target comes nearly a year after hedge fund bets against Canada's TD Bank Group TD.TO hit $4.2 billion, making it the world's most-shorted banking stock, according to data provider ORTEX's calculations.

In its most recent third-quarter earnings report, Fairfax reported a profit that more than doubled to C$1.19 billion, compared with C$582.7 million a year earlier.

Net premiums written also grew 4.8%, while gross premiums written also rose 5% in the quarter.

"The MW report does NOT raise concerns with the earnings power of the business," National Bank of Canada wrote in a research note on Thursday.

"The MW report does not describe any fraudulent or nefarious accounting tactics, but only potentially aggressive valuation marks," it added.

($1 = 1.3465 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Mehnaz Yasmin, Manya Saini and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Krishna Chandra Eluri)

(([email protected];))

Feb 12 (Reuters) - Quess Corp Ltd QUEC.NS:

• TRIBUNAL GRANTED CONDITIONAL STAY ON 80% OF DEMAND AMOUNT

• ITAT HAS DIRECTED TO PAY REMAINING 20% DEMAND AMOUNT ON OR BEFORE FEB 29

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSE1m6rTG

Further company coverage: QUEC.NS

(([email protected];;))

Feb 6 (Reuters) - Quess Corp Ltd QUEC.NS:

• APPROVED DISINVESTMENT OF 100% OF EQUITY INVESTMENT HELD BY CO IN UNIT QDIGI SERVICES

• QDIGI STAKE SALE FOR CONSIDERATION OF 800 MLN RUPEES

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSE6Ks5G6

Further company coverage: QUEC.NS

(([email protected];))

Jan 5 (Reuters) - Quess Corp Ltd QUEC.NS:

• NFRA IMPOSED PENALTY ON CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS WHO ISSUED REPORTS FOR FY2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21 FOR CO

• COMPANY HAS FILED AN APPEAL BEFORE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL AGAINST ASSESSMENT ORDER

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSE46VwNj

Further company coverage: QUEC.NS

(([email protected];))

Dec 22 (Reuters) - Quess Corp Ltd QUEC.NS:

• APPROVED RESTRUCTURING OF OVERSEAS UNITS BY ACQUISITION OF 56% STAKE IN MFXCHANGE HOLDINGS

Further company coverage: QUEC.NS

(([email protected];))

** IIFL Securities initiates coverage on Indian workforce management co Quess Corp QUEC.NS with "buy" rating, 12-month PT 620 rupees

** Says QUEC's FY23 profitability was largely impacted by EBITDA loss in its jobs platform Foundit, expects unit to turn EBITDA neutral in FY25

** Higher thrust on manufacturing, opportunities in Tier II and III cities, and expansion of commercial real estate are key growth drivers for co - brokerage

** Quess' recent increase in focus on manufacturing and construction segments is timely and will further diversify its client mix - IIFL

** Quess shares rose as much as 3% to highest since Nov 2022 to 528.45 rupees, last up 1.7% at 521.95 rupees

** Shares up ~ 27% YTD

(Reporting by Sethuraman NR in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]; (+91 9945291420); Reuters Messaging: [email protected]))

Dec 4 (Reuters) - Quess Corp Ltd QUEC.NS:

• QUESS AND NATIONAL SKILL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (NSDC) SIGN MOU

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSE5rSdtT

Further company coverage: QUEC.NS

(([email protected];))

By Savio Shetty

Nov 28 (Reuters) - Soaring attrition in India's financial sector will persist through next fiscal year due to a demand-supply mismatch, a senior executive at TeamLease, one of India's largest staffing services providers, said on Tuesday.

HDFC Bank, India's largest private lender, saw its employee turnover rate rise to 34% in the last fiscal year from 27.6% a year earlier. At Axis Bank, it climbed to nearly 35% from 31.6%.

Meanwhile, Kotak Mahindra Bank's attrition surged to about 50%, with smaller peer Yes Bank in tow at 43%.

"The demand for salespeople (selling personal, home, agriculture and other loans) is huge," Kartik Narayan, the chief executive for staffing at TeamLease, told the Reuters Trading India forum.

These employees are underpaid and undertrained and a salary hike of even 1,000 rupees ($12) per month is enough to make them switch jobs, he added.

Narayan expects this trend to continue, adding that employment in the BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) sector is under "tremendous pressure", with frontline attrition rates persisting at 30%-40%.

Further, the central bank's measures to rein in unsecured lending will not impact the sector's employment needs, he said.

Earlier this month, the Reserve Bank of India tightened norms for personal loans and credit cards, raising concerns about a potential slowdown in loan growth.

"I feel that (in the) immediate (future), perhaps there won't be an effect," Narayan said.

While the general staffing business is growing robustly, tech staffing is going through a different cycle, he added.

The hiring boom during the pandemic due to a sharp rise in demand for digital products has now moderated.

"Some of this (tech hiring) is also cyclical and we do expect it to start recovering in another two quarters," Narayan said.

(Join Trading India, a chat room hosted on Refinitiv Messenger: https://bit.ly/3TNDwkC)

(Reporting by Savio Shetty; Editing by Sohini Goswami)

(([email protected];))

Sept 1 (Reuters) - Quess Corp Ltd QUEC.NS:

• DISPUTE RESOLUTION PANEL PASSED ORDER ISSUING DIRECTIONS WHEREIN PARTIAL RELIEF ALLOWED TO CO

• DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX TO PASS NECESSARY ORDERS QUANTIFYING TAX LIABILITY PAYABLE FOR FY 2018-19

• CO RESERVES RIGHT TO FILE APPEAL AGAINST FINAL ASSESSMENT ORDER PASSED BY DCIT

• CO INTENDS TO VIGOROUSLY CONTEST ITS POSITION AND INTERPRETATIVE STANCE OF SECTIONS ON MERITS

• CO BELIEVES IT CAN STRONGLY DEFEND ITS POSITION THROUGH LEGAL PROCESS AS DEFINED UNDER INCOME TAX ACT

Source text for Eikon: ID:nNSE8yXr2n

Further company coverage: QUEC.NS

(([email protected];))

** Shares of staffing firm Quess Corp QUEC.NS fall as much as 4.21% to 410.90 rupees

** Co on Wednesday reported 28.4% YoY fall in consolidated net profit for June-qtr

** While rev from ops rose 15.6%, total expenses rose 16.2% led by rise in employee benefits expense

** EBITDA margin fell to 3.3% vs 3.9% yr ago

** More than 350,000 shares change hands by 12:04 p.m. IST, 1.8x 30-day avg

** Including session's loss, stock up 1% YTD

(Reporting by Ashish Chandra in Bengaluru)

(([email protected] (+91 7982114624))

Aug 2 (Reuters) - Quess Corp Ltd QUEC.NS:

• INDIA'S QUESS CORP LTD JUNE-QUARTER CONSOL NET PROFIT 478.1 MILLION RUPEES VERSUS PROFIT 668.5 MILLION RUPEES

• QUESS CORP LTD JUNE-QUARTER CONSOL REVENUE FROM OPERATIONS 46 BILLION RUPEES VERSUS 39.79 BILLION RUPEES

Source text for Eikon: ID:nNSE2yn4tr

Further company coverage: QUEC.NS

(([email protected];))

** Shares of Quess Corp Ltd QUEC.NS fall as much as 5.9% to 373.30 rupees, their steepest pct drop since Jan 27

** The staffing firm reports a 61% slump in consolidated net profit as a jump in expenses outweighs higher revenue

** EBITDA margins drop 146 bps to 3.42%

** About 817,900 shares change hands, 2.2x the 30-day avg - Refinitiv Data

** Rival co Teamlease Services TLSV.NS down ~2% after posting a smaller Q4 profit nL4N37D3IZ

** Quess stock down 6.7% YTD, as of last close

($1 = 81.7800 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Priya Sagar in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]))