Daily Brief Financials: KB Financial, HDFC Bank, NSDL, Executive Centre India Ltd, Strike, Health In Tech, Hokkoku Financial Holdings, M&A Capital Partners, Molten Ventures , Banco del Bajio SA and more

• ETF rebalancing’s key, but still too early to front-run — both use FnGuide screens based on FY1 DPS and prices from 20 days before November-end.
• Beyond the rebalance noise, ADR-local spreads have been widening — KB hit +6%, Shinhan’s also drifting. Likely tied to the recent liquidity surge in dividend names.
• ADR arb’s more doable with NXT tightening slippage. With proper FX hedging, it’s a clean side play riding the policy-driven liquidity wave.

• The stress periods are the times when the mettle of the best gets tested. We are in such a period and HDFCB has remained unscathed.
• Even Bajaj Finance, which is also rated gold-standard in underwriting and risk management, noted issues with asset quality in the current environment, however, HDFCB’s asset quality has remained pristine.
• HDFCB’s retail NPA ex-Agri has been steady at 0.82%. While HDFCB’s competitors have provided a cautious outlook, especially in unsecured loans, HDFCB has provided a stable outlook on asset quality.

• This insight describes about NSDL (NSDL IN) ‘s complete overhaul in top management team over the last 12 months.
• The mandate for new team is to arrest the market share loss with new age/ discount brokers. The revised strategy seems to be working.
• The IPO provides investors a front-row seat opportunity to witness this turnaround.

• Executive Centre India Ltd (2026075D IN) (ECIL)  is looking to raise about US$300m in its upcoming India IPO. The bookrunners for the deal are Kotak and ICICI.
• ECIL leases Grade A office spaces and converts them into premium flexible workspaces, catering to MNCs, SMEs, and other entities across various sectors and industries.
• As per Kantar Brand Study, it was recognised for offering high-end services in the premium flexible workspace segment across India, Singapore, the Middle East, and Asia in FY25.

• Revenue increased to JPY14.4bn (+8.8% YoY) with operating profit at JPY4.1bn (-17.6% YoY) and net income JPY2.9bn (-13.8% YoY).
• Strike closed 192 M&A deals (+4.9% YoY) with revenue per deal at JPY75.2mn (+3.7% YoY).
• SG&A expenses rose 19.7% YoY to JPY4.3bn, increasing the SG&A ratio to 29.7% (+2.7pp YoY).

• As it executes its strategy to continue to expand its reach and distribution, HIT has added many new distribution partnerships, including with large players such as leading pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) MedImpact subsidiary, Verdegard Administrators, and Hilb Group, which ranks among the top 25 U.S. insurance brokers, among others.
• Moreover, HIT is preparing to launch AI-powered solutions for mid-sized and larger businesses later in 2025 and is optimistic about the prospects, based on interest it has generated to-date.
• Concurrently, HIT continues to serve and expand its offerings for the small- to medium enterprise (SME) market.

• Consolidated ordinary income reached JPY25.8bn (+17.9% YoY), with ordinary profit at JPY8.3bn (+126.2% YoY).
• Hokkoku Bank’s core operating profit was JPY3.7bn (+110.0% YoY), with ordinary profit at JPY7.9bn (+141.2% YoY).
• Consolidated gross profit increased to JPY12.2bn (+49.8% YoY), driven by net interest income and other operating income.

• Revenue reached JPY16.3bn, a 41.2% YoY increase, driven by higher average fees per closed deal and more deals.
• Operating profit rose 95.2% YoY to JPY5.6bn; recurring profit increased 96.0% YoY to JPY5.7bn.
• Net income attributable to owners of the parent grew 101.6% YoY to JPY3.8bn, with unchanged company forecasts.

Molten Ventures is a well-established listed venture capital (VC) player in Europe providing exposure to a diverse portfolio of private high-growth technology companies that are otherwise hard to access. It covers most of the major tech themes, which form what Molten’s CEO refers to as a generational shift in technology. Molten delivered strong exit proceeds of £135m in FY25 (to end-March 2025), allowing it to invest into the next market cycle via direct, secondary and early-stage fund investments. Its core portfolio has a strong cash runway (88% funded for at least 12 months or already profitable) and a robust outlook (management expects 36% average top-line growth in 2025). Molten’s shares trade at a wide discount to NAV of 51%, above the average 25% discount at which secondary limited partner (LP) positions traded in global secondary markets in 2024.

• We stick with our buy on BanBajio but we close out the short on Banorte; the PBV differential between the two narrowed largely due to Banorte’s share price action
• BanBajio’s shares reflect that the market was underwhelmed by BanBajio 2Q 2025 results, especially in terms of credit quality, but we believe that this is now largely discounted
• BanBajio continues to screen very well against Banorte and the rest of the Mexican bank peer group; in addition, BanBajio ranks top of our scorecard, with Gentera in bottom position