SBI Q4 net profit surges 23% to Rs. Rs.3,742 cr; to pay dividend of Rs.3.50 per share

State Bank of India has reported an approximate 23 per cent increase in net profit to the tune of Rs.3,742 crore, for the quarter ended March 31, 2015. Standalone net profit for the corresponding period last year stood at Rs.3,040 crore.

Total income (net interest income and other income) increased by nearly 15 per cent to Rs.48,616 crore from Rs.42,443 crore.

Segment Results

In terms of segment results for the fourth quarter (January-March 2015), losses were contained in the wholesale or corporate banking operations to the tune of Rs.1,210 crore against Rs.2,071 crore.

However, treasury operations, reported a 118 per cent increase in profit to Rs.2,739 crore against the Rs.1,257 crore in the year-ago period.

Profits in retail banking operations for the January to March period have gone down by a little over 32 per cent to Rs.4,208 crore (Rs.6,234 crore).

Full Year Operations

For the full year ended March 31, 2015, standalone net profit grew over 20 per cent to Rs.13,102 crore (Rs.10,891 crore).

Total income for the full year increased to Rs.1,74,973 crore (or by approximately 13 per cent) from Rs.1,54,904 crore it reported in the year-ago period.

For 2014-15, the bank’s board has declared a dividend of Rs.3.50 a share of face value of Rs.1 each.

Loan quality

Gross non-performing assets per cent (gross NPA to advances) in the quarter improved to 4.25 per cent (4.95 per cent).

Gross NPAs stood at Rs.56,725 crore (Rs.61,605 crore), while net NPAs came down to Rs.27,591 crore (Rs.31,096 crore).

Net NPA per cent also improved by 45 basis points to 2.12 per cent against 2.57 per cent in the year-ago period.

"This has been a year of consolidation. Consolidation has been done not just in regular line of businesses; but we have also explored new digital business opportunities," Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairman, SBI, said.

Initially, after the results were announced, the stock witnessed a surge in its price and touched a high of Rs.305 on the NSE. But profit booking subsequently pared much of the gains and SBI shares are trading at Rs.291, a gain of 75 paise on the exchange.

But the trading interest in the stock was phenomenal with the trading volume crossing 5 crore shares by 2.15 pm on the NSE.

Source : Thehindubusinessline