Crisil's net profit up 18% at Rs 70.92 cr in Dec qtr

Country's largest rating agency Crisil, an S&P-run entity, today reported an over 18 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 70.92 crore in the three months to December up from Rs 60 crore.
Crisil said its consolidated income rose 16.4 per cent to Rs 305.10 crore, compared to Rs 262.04 crore a year ago.
Meanwhile, the company also announced the appointment of outgoing Britannia MD and CEO Vinita Bali as an independent director on its board. With this the Crisil board now includes Douglas L Peterson (chairman), M Damodaran, HN Sinor, Nachiket Mor, David Pearce, Yann Le Pallec and Roopa Kudva (managing director and CEO).

During the year, the company paid three interim dividends of Rs 3 per share each on face value of Re 1 per equity share and today the board has recommended a final dividend of Rs 4 per share and a special dividend of Rs 6 per share, taking the total dividend for the year to Rs 19 per share as against Rs 16 per share in 2012.
Commenting on the numbers, Managing Ddirector Roopa Kudva said the business environment in 2013 was challenging with the country witnessing a sharp slowdown in growth and investments. Despite this Crisil continued to grow and maintained its leadership in the country, backed by strong performance in bank loan ratings and SME ratings.

During the year, Crisil sold its entire equity stake in India Index Services & Products, a joint venture with the NSE, for Rs 100 crore. The stake represented 49 per cent of the equity share capital of the company.
The board also approved a proposal to issue stock options to be converted into equity shares not exceeding 36,00,000 equity shares to the employees and whole-time directors and its subsidiary companies in accordance with Sebi norms on employees stock option scheme and employees stock purchase scheme.