YES Bank Q4 net up 18.7% at Rs 430 cr

Higher other income, stable margin, lower provisions aid earnings growth

YES Bank today said its net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2014 increased by 18.8% from a year earlier to Rs 430.2 crore. Higher non-interest income, stable margin and lower provisions aided the bank's earnings growth during the three-month period.

Net interest income, or the difference between interest income and interest expense, was at Rs 719.6 crore, up 12.8% from a year ago. Net interest margin improved by 10 basis points sequentially and remained unchanged from a year earlier at 3%. Non-interest income grew by 17.4%, on a year-on-year basis, driven by rise in fee income streams.

"YES Bank has continued to deliver steady performance in 2013-14 (April-March) maintaining asset quality in a difficult economic environment with expansion in net interest margin in the fourth quarter. Balance sheet consolidation has been substantially achieved over the last two years with progressive de-risking. During this year, YES Bank continued to focus on diversity and granularity with continued investment in branches and employees," Rana Kapoor, managing director and chief executive of the bank, said in his post-earnings comments.

The bank cut its provisions to Rs 72.3 crore during January-March quarter from Rs 97.5 crore in the corresponding period of previous year. Gross non-performing asset (NPA) ratio deteriorated by 11 basis points from a year earlier but improved by 18 basis points from a quarter ago to 0.31% at the end of March, 2014. Net NPA ratio was at 0.05%. The specific loan loss provision coverage was at 85.1%.

Total restructured advances were at Rs 100.9 crore, representing 0.18% of gross advances. The bank did not restructure any loans during the quarter.

Total advances were at Rs 55,633 crore, up 18.4% from a year earlier. Corporate banking representing large corporate loan accounts had 63.3% share of the bank's credit portfolio. Total deposits grew by 10.8% to Rs 74,192 crore. The share of low-cost current account savings account (CASA) deposits in total deposits improved to 22% at the end of March, 2014 from 18.9% a year earlier.

YES Bank closed the financial year with a capital adequacy ratio of 14.4% as per Basel III rules. Tier I capital adequacy ratio was at 9.8%.

The bank declared dividend of Rs 8/share.