Smartkarma Daily Briefs

• Japan PM Ishiba says disagreements remain with US on tariff talk. This is probably the main catalyst that could slow down the current Nikkei 225 (NKY INDEX) rally.
• Our WEEKLY Nikkei 225 model signals a mildly overbought status, the index could go higher, but will face harder resistance in 1-2 weeks from now.
• We don’t see the Nikkei pulling back this week, we think it will close this week up.

• Since mid-May, share price spreads have generally tightened across the European liquid universe of ordinary and preferred shares, with 10 tightening and 9 widening. 
• The premium of non-voting, less liquid Handelsbanken B shares vs. A has tightened to 50.8%; the discount of Grifols B has widened (Brookfield’s approach remains tentative and non-committal.). 
• Recommended trades long preferred/short ords: Atlas Copco, Grifols, MFE Media-for-Europe. Recommended trades long ordinary / short preferred shares: Handelsbanken, Henkel, SSAB Svenska Stal.

• Knowledge Realty Trust (258259D IN) is planning to raise about US$558m through its upcoming India IPO. The deal has been downsized from an earlier estimated deal size of about US$712m.
• Knowledge Realty Trust (KRT) owns and manages a high-quality office portfolio in India covering 87% of India’s office supply and gross absorption between FY16-9M24, as per the CBRE report.
• In this note, we talk about the firm’s historical performance.

• Bajaj Finance Ltd (“BAF”) reported a healthy Q4FY25, thus closing the full-year FY25 on a strong note.  AUM ended FY25 at INR 416,661cr, a growth of 26% YoY.
• Customer franchise had crossed 100mm and is now close to 102mm. Notably, Bajaj Finserv App now has 70mm+ customers. FinAI transformation is also progressing well.
• While FY25 had some challenges due to higher credit cost and NIM compression, BAF is all set to post a strong FY26 led by stable asset quality and NIM.

• Geojit is targeting INR 20,000 crore in PMS AUM within three years from INR 1200 Crore, backed by new leadership, expanded RM hiring, and deep NRI-retail presence.
• This signals a shift from cyclical broking to stable, high-margin wealth management boosting recurring income and long-term profitability.
• Geojit is evolving into a full-stack wealth platform, making it a re-rating candidate if it delivers on PMS scale-up and sustains income diversification.

• Alongside the technological development in our era in almost every aspect of our daily lives, one could argue that it would be inevitable such digital emergence to make also its appearance on financial services as is the case with digital coins.
• More specifically, Bitcoin and Ethereum, which both capture on a significant scale the meaning of digitalized finance not only on monetary value but also on a historical perspective through their developmental process since their initial issue, could be considered the epitome of financial-technological innovation.
• Both respectively, should be analyzed on a financial basis through the course of their history to achieve a deepest comprehension of their functionality and usage by examining the main factors contributing to Bitcoin and Ethereum’s rise and general fluctuation over the past.

• Slide Holdings Insurance, Inc. (SLDE) priced 24.0mm shares (upsized from 20.0mm) at $17.00  and opened at $21.00 for a gain of 23.5% at first trade.
• The deal finished north of 12-times oversubscribed. The deal saw the top ten accounts receive 65% of the deal and the top 20 accounts took home 80% of the transaction. 
• With a strong, clean and well-capitalized balance sheet and tailwinds from the sector, it was no “surprise” to see a four-point premium at open.

Ahead of its AGM, S&U has issued a trading update and management continues to strike an optimistic tone. The motor finance business, Advantage, has started to recover from the challenges of the past two years, with lending volumes increasing once again and collections showing good improvement. Aspen, the property lender, continues to grow strongly, generating a record profit for Q126. We view the continued recovery positively and, based on the current trajectory, believe S&U will hit our FY26 forecasts. The outcome of the upcoming Supreme Court judgement concerning motor finance commission, expected in the next few weeks, is difficult to predict, but S&U remains optimistic of a pragmatic decision that will bring welcome clarity to the sector, and to investors.