Financial Tech posts 53% rise in Q3 PAT

Financial Technologies India (FTIL), the promoter of the country’s largest commodity exchange MCX, today said it has recorded a 53 per cent rise in its standalone profit after tax (PAT), excluding project divestment income (PDI), at Rs 43.2 crore for the third quarter of the current financial year.

The company had reported a standalone PAT of Rs 28.3 crore, excluding PDI, in the same period of 2007-08.

“Despite the challenging global financial environment, we are able to maintain the robustness of our business model. We will continue to leverage our economies of scale in technology, trade and post-trade transaction lifecycle to create the most efficient network of exchanges,” Financial Technologies’ whole-time Director Dewang Neralla told reporters here.

However, the company said in a regulatory filing that its PAT fell by nearly 92 per cent due to the project divestment income in the last financial year.

Financial Technologies’ standalone operating revenue went up by 58 per cent to Rs 62.4 crore in Q3 FY09 against Rs 39.4 crore in the corresponding quarter of FY08.

Total income, excluding PDI, also increased by 69 per cent to Rs 105.4 crore during the reporting quarter, against Rs 62.4 crore in the same quarter of the previous financial year.

The company board declared an interim dividend of 100 per cent per share of Rs 2 each. Its cash and cash equivalents continued to remain healthy at Rs 1,227.5 crore.

“The strong performance of the company reaffirms the fact that companies with solid cash flow and sound corporate governance will continue to perform against any economic slowdown,” company’s Independent Director P G Kakodkar said.

Echoing Kakodkar’s observation, FTIL’s advisory board member G N Bajpai said, “Financial Technologies Group continues to set new milestones on the Indian corporate landscape in the areas of technology innovation, business model, execution, standards of accounting transparency and corporate governance”.