Shares of the country's second largest housing finance player, LIC Housing, slumped sharply lower on Wednesday, clocking its worst fall in more than two years. Market participants seem to be disappointed with the 23 percent on-year growth in net profit at Rs 305 crore, sinking the stock down for a fourth day on heavy volumes.
The subsidiary of the country's largest insurer LIC said its net interest income for the quarter declined marginally (80 basis points) to Rs 1,163 crore from Rs 1,173 crore, but the management did not give any reason for the same.
Individual loan disbursements declined marginally to Rs 14,300 crore from Rs 14,330 crore in the reporting quarter, taking total disbursements to Rs 16,786 crore up 4 per cent from Rs 16,110 crore, led by a 15 per cent increase in project loans at Rs 407 crore from Rs 353 crore. This pushed the total outstanding loan portfolio up 10 per cent at Rs 2,62,336 crore, helping the company earn 8 per cent more in revenue from operations at Rs 5,086 crore from Rs 4,708 crore.
Of the total loan outstanding, individual loans stood at Rs 2,16,771 crore up 15 per cent from Rs 1,88,348 crore.
The key profitability metric, net interest margin -- the difference between what it earns from lending and what it spends in cost of funds -- stood at 1.80 per cent, down from 2 per cent a year ago.
The company said its provisions rose to Rs 6,522 crore on an expected credit loss basis and provision coverage ratio at 44 per cent for stage 3 accounts as against Rs 5,355 crore in September 2021.
The stage 3 exposure on default declined to 4.90 per cent from 5.14 per cent in September 2021 and 4.96 per cent in June 2022.
Y Viswanatha Gowd, managing director and chief executive of the company, said positive consumer sentiment has resulted in an uptick in demand for residential properties led by the affordable housing segment despite the rising inflationary trends and rising interest rates.
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