Newsletter
Leadership chaos at Equitas, Fortis goes shopping, and life-savers get easy on the pocket.
šļø Morning, folks and Happy Fridayyyyy! āļø
Who couldāve predicted, in 2026, Hollywoodās biggest rival would beā¦embroidery?
The Bayeux Tapestry, a nearly 1,000-year-old, 70-metre long embroidered artwork depicting Englandās Norman Conquest in 1066, complete with battles, ships and royal drama, saw its latest ticket batch sell out in just three hours.
And the most striking part?
Visitors under the age of 35 accounted for 55% of buyers. Monzo recorded Ā£14,100 in spending in the first hour alone, more than double The Odyssey (Ā£7,000) and Spider-Man: Brand New Day (Ā£6,300).
So, whatās the appeal? The 70-metre-long embroidery tells the story of Englandās Norman Conquest in 1066 and is on display in England for the first time since the 11th century.
With spending hitting Ā£30,500 within two hours and the average purchase at Ā£97, this is less museum visit, more cultural-event mania. And, medieval drama doesnāt even need CGI.
Moving on to the markets.
Indian markets staged a strong rebound on Thursday, with the Sensex and Nifty both gaining 1%.
Midcap and smallcap indices gained around 1% each, while banking, IT, energy, and realty stocks led sectoral gains. Auto was the only major sector to end in the red.
Jio Platforms ended slightly higher after its market capitalisation crossed ā¹13.5 lakh crore intraday.
Meanwhile, the rupee recovered from an intraday low of ā¹95.37 to close nearly flat at ā¹95.25 against the dollar.
š” Spotlight: Equitasā good news lasted minutes š„
Equitas Small Finance Bank ended 12% lower despite the lender reporting a multifold jump in quarterly profit.
What happened: founder and CEO P.N. Vasudevan resigned shortly after the results. His exit also comes amid questions surrounding his daughterās role in a separate lending company, although Equitas has maintained that it followed the applicable rules.
Additionally, he was reappointed for another three-year term only in July 2026. He was also expected to remain CEO until July 2029.
What now: Vasudevan will continue until a replacement is appointed. Investors will closely watch the succession process because the bankās next CEO will also require RBI approval.
Letās hit it! šŖš»
1 Big Thing: Microsoft beats estimates in Q1 ā
Microsoft reported higher revenue and profit than expected for its first quarter, just days after offering voluntary buyouts to around 60,000 employees.
The key numbers:
- Adjusted earnings per share: $4.89, compared with $4.73 expected.
- Revenue: $92.28 billion, compared with $90.69 billion expected.
Revenue grew 19% from a year earlier, helped by a 48% rise in revenue from Azure, its cloud computing business. The tech giant has now reported record-breaking revenue for 10 quarters in a row.
Microsoft has been expanding its data centres to meet growing demand for AI. Despite that spending, it continued to generate cash after covering its operating costs and investments, unlike some of its biggest cloud rivals.
The company reported $45.2 billion in spending on infrastructure, equipment and long-term financing agreements, up about 30% from a year earlier. Net profit rose to $36.63 billion from $27.75 billion a year ago.
An interesting detail: Microsoft earned $24.1 billion in revenue from OpenAI during its full 2026 financial year. If revenue from OpenAI-related deals continued at the latest quarterās pace, it would reach $40 billion a year.
Headcount update: Microsoft had 223,000 employees worldwide at the end of June, down from 228,000 at the end of 2025.
Back home š ,
Suzlon Energy reported a 26% YoY increase in revenue from operations to ā¹4,869 crore in Q2 FY27, supported by record quarterly deliveries of 710 MW.
The snapshot:
- Net profit: down 69.2% at ā¹394 cr vs ā¹1,279.4 cr (YoY)
- Revenue: up 26% at ā¹4,869 cr vs ā¹3,865 cr (YoY)
- EBITDA: down 0.4% at ā¹713 cr vs ā¹716 cr (YoY)
- EBITDA margin: at 14.7% vs 18.7% (YoY)
Thatās not all,
IndiGoās Q2 loss narrowed to ā¹1,879 crore from ā¹2,582 crore a year earlier. Higher revenue helped cushion the impact of expensive fuel and a weaker rupee.
2. Fortis checks into another Bāluru hospital š„
Fortis Healthcare has acquired Suguna Hospital in Rajajinagar for approximately ā¹277 crore through its wholly owned subsidiary, International Hospital Limited.
Suguna Hospital is a multispeciality hospital that has operated since 2006. It currently has 110 beds, with enough space to increase that number to around 150.
The deets: the hospital generated approximately ā¹50 crore in revenue during FY26. At first glance, Fortis is paying about 5.6 times Sugunaās annual revenue. However, that price also includes the underlying land and building.
The why: this is Fortisā second hospital acquisition in north-west Bengaluru this year. It bought People Tree Hospital in Yeshwanthpur in January.
Suguna Hospital is located close to Fortisā existing Rajajinagar hospital and the People Tree facility. Together, these three hospitals give Fortis access to around 500 potential beds in the north-west Bengaluru corridor.
3. Two rivals in a room, they mightā¦šø
DoorDash has agreed to buy Instacart for about $17 billion in cash and stock, giving it a bigger foothold in online grocery delivery.
Why now: Walmart and Amazon together account for roughly half of US online grocery sales. That leaves other retailers competing for the remaining share, with many relying on platforms such as Instacart to handle online orders and deliveries.
Instacart works with grocery chains including Albertsons, Fred Meyer and Safeway, giving DoorDash access to an established network of retail partners.
Some background: DoorDash began adding grocery stores to its app in the summer of 2020, when pandemic restrictions kept people at home and online shopping surged.
A year later, it reportedly considered buying Instacart for $40-50 billion, as the grocery platformās valuation soared during the pandemic.
Those talks fell apart amid concerns about regulatory scrutiny under Lina Khan, who chaired the US Federal Trade Commission at the time.
4. Stocks that kept us interested š
What went up ā¬ļø
ā Birlasoft surged 11% as improved sequential Q2 earnings drove heavy trading volumes.
šŖš» ACME Solar gained 3% after the company reported that Q2 profit more than doubled and raised its capacity targets.
š Jupiter Wagons went up 6% after securing a ā¹1,140 crore Railways order, extending gains for a fourth consecutive trading session.
š Hyundai Motor India rose over nearly 3% despite lower Q2 profits, as brokerages differed on recovery prospects and SUV competition.
What went down ā¬ļø
ā¹ļø Hexaware Technologies fell nearly 6% after Q3 results as the company narrowed its full-year 2026 margin guidance to 13-13.5%.
š„“ CarTrade Tech tumbled over 5% as Q2 revenue growth slowed to 10.4%, with revenue reaching ā¹213 crore amid subdued profitability.
What else are we snackinā šæ
š Cancer cuts: India slashed prices of 543 cancer drug brands by up to 93%, but costly medicines like Keytruda remain untouched.
š Clearing connections: SEBI and the Bank of England teamed up to share information and coordinate oversight of clearing corporations across borders.
šŖšŗ ECB exit: Christine Lagarde will quit in February 2027, ahead of schedule, opening the race for her successor before Franceās elections.
And thatās a wrap. Pour yourself an extra one this weekend. š»
Weāll be back like clockwork on Monday!
Hit that š if you liked this issue.
Disclaimer: this newsletter is for informational and research purposes only. Nothing here should be considered financial, investment, legal, or professional advice.
