Edelweiss Fin Services reports Rs 637-cr net profit for Mar quarter

Edelweiss Financial Services on Friday reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 636.70 crore for the March 2021 quarter.

The company had posted a net loss of Rs 2,281.55 crore in the year-ago same quarter. Sequentially also, there was a net loss of Rs 63 crore in the December 2020 quarter.

Total consolidated income during January-March 2021 jumped to Rs 4,480.95 crore as against Rs 1,965.87 crore in the year-ago period, Edelweiss said in a regulatory filing.

For the full financial year 2020-21, the non-banking financial company had a net profit of Rs 253.91 crore, in contrast to a loss of Rs 2,043.77 crore in 2019-20.

Total income for the year rose to Rs 10,848.85 crore, against Rs 9,602.63 crore a year ago, the company said.

The company's board of directors has approved a final dividend of Rs 0.55 per share. Total dividend for the year stands at Rs 1.45 per share, it said.

Edelweiss Financial Services Chairman and CEO Rashesh Shah said the company's business has been resilient in these testing times, and the fee income during the reported quarter is higher than pre-COVID-19 level.

Customer assets have grown 35 per cent year-on-year, demonstrating the trust of customers. All the of the businesses of the company are well-capitalised, with operationally independent and robust performance and are poised for growth, he said.

"We concluded the stake sale in our wealth management business, at a valuation of Rs 4,400 crore, an endorsement of the quality of businesses we have built and the value we have created.

"We continued the transition to a capital light retail credit model with a focus on housing and SME businesses," Shah said.

He said Edelweiss has scaled down its wholesale lending book significantly over the past two years.

"We plan to further bring it down to half its size by FY23. We now have a stronger balance sheet with robust equity, lower debt and ample liquidity," he added.