J&K Bank Q4 net up 32% at Rs 79 cr

Jammu & Kashmir Bank today reported 32 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 78.68 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2009, on the back of high interest income and other earnings.

The company had a net profit of Rs 59.80 crore in the March quarter of FY08, a spokesperson of J&K Bank said today.

Total income stood at Rs 866.63 crore in the latest quarter, while it had a total income Rs 724.82 crore in the year ago period.

For the year ended March 31, 2009, the bank had a net profit of 409.84 crore against Rs 360 crore in 2007-08.

The banking firm registered a total income of Rs 3,233.17 crore for 2008-09 against Rs 2,679.24 crore in FY08.

Due to growth in advances and improvement in yields from 10.44 per cent for 2007-08 to 11.53 per cent for the current fiscal, the interest income on advances went up by 22 per cent over the previous year, the spokesperson said.

The operating profit of the bank increased by 18.8 per cent at Rs 774 crore compared to 652 crore in FY08.

Despite high cost of deposits, the bank improved its net interest margin to 3.15 per cent at the end of March 2009, against 2.95 per cent in the last year.

Besides, the bank said its board has recommended a dividend of 169 per cent, or Rs 16.9 per share, to shareholders for 2008-09.