Bajaj Finance Q4 net spikes 52%, shares hit 52-wk high

Moneycontrol Bureau

Bajaj Finance - a Pune-based non-banking finance company, reported 52 percent year-on-year spike in its fourth quarter (January - March) net profit to Rs 164 crore driven by robust loan expansions.
Bajaj Finance shares hit 52-week high on Wednesday to close the day's trading at Rs 1,405 on NSE.
During the quarter, loan disbursements increased  21 percent y-o-y to Rs 5,106 crore. This is way above the average industry credit growth at around 14 percent. Net interest income (NII) or the difference between interest earned and paid out, shot up 33 percent y-o-y to Rs 517 crore. Also read: Will slowly start lending to commercial: Bajaj Finance CEO
However, it brought down its exposure to commercial segment (including construction equipments, infrastructure loans and vendor financing). In the division, loans contracted by 45 percent y-o-y to about Rs 700 crore. This is perhaps the fourth consecutive quarter that the NBFC squeezed its commercial book.
Loans deployments to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) expanded the most to the tune of 66 percent at Rs 2110 crore. Credit to buy to consumer goods rose 27 percent to Rs 2300 crore. Finance cost or borrowing costs rose sharply by 40 percent to Rs 326 crore.
During the quarter, gross non-performing asset (NPA) ratio rose marginally to 1.09 percent as against 1.05 percent a year back. Net NPA ratio stood at 0.19 percent compared with 0.12 percent during the same period. Loan losses and provisions rose 13 percent y-o-y to Rs 45 crore.
Net profit rose 46 percent to Rs 591 crore for the year ended March 31, 2013. Total assets under management (AUM) expanded 34 percent y-o-y to Rs 17,520 crore. NII increased 34 percent y-o-y to Rs 1,900 crore.
The NBFC sells some of its loan portfolios to mostly public sector banks to raise funds. It is called securitisation in market parlance. The loan book, net of securitisation, stood at about Rs 16,740 crore, up 34 percent y-o-y as on March 31, 2013.
saikat.das@network18online.com