Canara Bank profit declines 12.54% in Q4

Operating profit for Q4 was up 13.8% to Rs 1,698 crore vs Rs 1,491 crore in the same period last year

Bangalore-based public sector lender Canara Bank has recorded a 12.54 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 725 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2013 compared to Rs 829 crore reported in the corresponding quarter last year. The drop in net profit was mainly on account of higher provisions towards bad loans and rise in restructure assets.

The bank’s total provisions (other than tax) during the quarter stood at Rs 752 crore, an increase of 62.77 per cent over Rs 462 crore provided in the year ago period.

Of this, the provisions towards bad loans were Rs 346 crore. The bank has also made a provision of Rs 156 crore for restructured assets as against Rs 70 crore a year ago.

The total income of the bank marginally went up by 4.8 per cent to Rs 9,472 crore during the quarter as against Rs 9,037 crore in the year ago period.

The operating profit for the fourth quarter was up 13.8 per cent to Rs 1,698 crore as against Rs 1,491 crore in the fourth quarter of last fiscal.

The bank’s advances growth was also muted during last year and grew by just 4 per cent to Rs 2,42,177 crore as against Rs 2,32,490 crore in March 2012.

The yield on advances went up 20 basis points to 11.13 per cent, while the cost of deposits increased by 37 basis points to 7.72 per cent in the March quarter.

The return on assets declined to 0.77 per cent from 0.96 per cent in the corresponding quarter last year. The percentage of net non-performing assets increased to 2.18 per cent from 1.46 per cent in the fourth quarter of last fiscal. The capital adequacy ratio under Basel-II has declined to 12.40 per cent from 13.76 per cent.