Home First Finance reports multifold jump in profit to Rs 46 cr in Dec qtr

The Company had posted a net profit of Rs 16 crore during the year-ago quarter of December 2020

Home First Finance Company reported a multifold jump in its net profit to Rs 46 crore for the December 2021 quarter on the back of strong disbursals, with AUM reaching an all-time high of over Rs 5,000 crore.

The technology-driven affordable housing finance company, which targets first-time homebuyers in low- and middle-income groups, had posted a net profit of Rs 16 crore during the year-ago quarter of December 2020.

It disbursed the highest-ever loans worth Rs 570 crore in the third quarter of FY22, a 63.3 per cent jump from Rs 349 crore in the year-ago period, HomeFirst said in a statement on Thursday.

Total income during October-December 2021 rose over 37 per cent to Rs 152 crore from Rs 110 crore, while the asset under management (AUM) has crossed Rs 5,000 crore in January 2022, it added.

However, there was a rise in the company's gross non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans at 2.6 per cent of the gross loans at the end of December 2021 as compared with 1.6 per cent by the year-ago same period.

The company said it is working to bring the asset quality to pre-COVID-19 levels and there has been a significant improvement in 1+DPD (days past due) and 30+DPD numbers for the Q3 as compared to the second quarter, indicating that it is progressing in the right direction.

Digital adoption has further improved and the usage of the customer app for various activities has increased, it said.

The company added that "76 per cent of our customers are registered on our app as on December 2021 as compared with 72 per cent in September 2021".

Payments received via the app have gone up by 114 per cent year-on-year.

The non-banking financial company (NBFC) said it has strengthened its board after receiving shareholders' approval for the appointment of Geeta Dutta Goel and Anuj Srivastava as additional directors. And, the board has approved the proposal to appoint Sucharita Mukherjee as an additional director on the company's board.

The company is expanding its physical and digital presence, HomeFirst said.

Shares of the company on Thursday closed 3.87 per cent higher at Rs 787.45 apiece on the BSE.