Edelweiss Financial Q4 net up 32% at Rs 51 cr

The PAT for the January-March quarter in the previous fiscal stood at Rs 38.76 crore

Edelweiss Financial Services reported a 32 per cent growth in its consolidated profit after tax at Rs 51 crore for the fourth quarter. The profit after tax for the same quarter a year ago stood at Rs 38.76 crore, the company said.

The total revenue for reported quarter grew by 25 per cent at Rs 595.46 crore compared to Rs 469.36 crore in the year-ago period.

“Fourth quarter witnessed easing inflation, robust FII (foreign institutional investors) inflows, softer commodities prices and a rate cut by RBI (Reserve Bank of India) improving the operating conditions.

“The Union Budget acknowledging the challenges that India faces on the current and fiscal deficit fronts and without being populist also improved the outlook,” Chairman and CEO Rashesh Shah said. However, this quarter and early part of FY14 also saw signs of political instability raising questions on the ability of the government to continue policy action, he said.

Managing current account and fiscal deficit, continuation of reforms and revival of capex investment would determine the onset of sustainable growth, he said.

“Our long-term strategy to diversify across businesses, asset classes and client segments is bearing fruits as demonstrated by constant improvement in our financial and business indicators in each of the previous six quarters. While our retail finance and retail capital markets business have broken even, the burn in insurance business is as per the plan. Our return on tangible equity excluding the impact of insurance business during the fourth quarter is already inching up to 14 per cent and the cost to income ratio is also on a declining trend,” he said.

While the business environment improves, the company will continue to focus on improving efficiency and productivity, building scale in retail businesses and inculcating a culture of customer centricity during FY14, he added. The profit after tax for FY13 grew 40 per cent at Rs 178 crore compared with Rs 128 crore in FY12. Total revenue went up 31 per cent at Rs 2,184 crore in 20012-13 against Rs 1,671 crore in the previous financial year.