United Bank Q4 net plunges 79% on higher provisions

Moneycontrol Bureau

Kolkata-based United Bank of India's (UBI) fourth quarter (January - March) net profit plunged 79 percent year-on-year to Rs 31 crore, squeezed by a spike in provisions that more than doubled from Rs 307 crore to Rs 759 crore during the same period.

Its net interest income (NII) or the difference between interest earned and paid out, fell 8 percent y-o-y to Rs 564 crore. Other income rose 47 percent to Rs 351 crore. Net profit dropped 38 percent y-o-y to Rs 392 crore for the year ended March 31, 2013.

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On account of writing back tax provisions, the public sector bank got Rs 279 crore during the quarter as compared with net tax expenses of Rs 219 crore a year back. Excluding the tax component, United Bank of India reported net loss of Rs 248 crore in the Q4, FY13 as against Rs 171 crore in Q4, FY12.

The bank expanded its loans a little more than 9 percent y-o-y to Rs 68,909 crore. Deposits grew 13 percent y-o-y to about Rs 1.01 lakh crore.

During the quarter, gross non-performing asset (NPA) ratio rose sharply to 4.25 percent as against 3.41 percent a year back. Net NPA ratio stood at 2.87 percent compared with 1.72 percent in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

The bank declared a dividend of Rs 2.10 per equity share. On Tuesday, United Bank shares rose nearly 1 percent to Rs 59 on NSE. However, the closing price was not available at the time of writing this article.

saikat.das@network18online.com