Federal Bank nine-month net profit rises 37%

Federal Bank has posted a 37.40 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 113.30 crore for the nine months ended December 31, 2003, against Rs 82.46 crore in the corresponding previous period.

The operating profit has surged by 27.12 per cent to Rs 334 crore from Rs 263 crore during the same period last year.

The bank's total business stood at Rs 19,132 crore registering a year-on-year growth of 22.89 per cent.

Deposits grew by 23.10 per cent to Rs 12,154 crore and advances registered a growth of 22.53 per cent to Rs 6,978 crore.

While the total income of the bank during the nine months period increased by 9.61 per cent to Rs 1,102 crore (Rs 1,006 crore in the corresponding previous year), the increase in total expenses was contained at 3.41 per cent to Rs 768 crore (as against Rs 743 crore earlier).

A bank spokesperson said the financial results of the bank for the period ended December 31, 2003, that was adopted by its board of directors yesterday, reveal that the bank continues to make steady improvements in the financial strength and other operational areas.

Claiming that the bank could make significant strides in reduction of non-performing assets (NPAs), he said sticky assets have fallen to Rs 277 crore from Rs 346 crore in the previous December.

In percentage terms, net NPA has come down to 3.97 per cent even after following the stricter 90 days prudential norms for asset classification and provisioning.

Cost of deposits has fallen to 6.45 per cent from 7.96 per cent during the corresponding period in the previous year. The bank's income from advances increased to Rs 539 crore from Rs 497 crore. The bank's net worth now stands at Rs 643 crore.

Its book value per share has increased from Rs 244 to Rs 296 during the first nine months of the current fiscal.

Earnings per share also increased from Rs 48.36 to Rs 69.55 during the same period. The return on average assets improved from 0.98 per cent to 1.18 per cent at present.