South Indian Bank’s (SIB) net Profit for the third quarter ended December 2008 reached Rs 54.20 crore, as compared to Rs 40.72 crore for the corresponding quarter last year, recording a y-o-y growth of 33.10 per cent.
Net profit for the nine month period ended December 2008, reached at Rs 144.50 crore, recording a 35.32 per cent growth, as compared to Rs 106.78 crore a year ago.
V A Joseph, managing director & chief executive officer of the bank said that this was for the first time in the 79 year history of the bank that it could achieve Rs 144.50 crore in net profit in just three quarters of a fiscal. Profit target for the current fiscal is Rs 190 crore. Aggregate business of the bank rose to Rs 27,778.69 crore as on 31st December 2008.
The bank’s earnings per share (EPS) on annualized basis improved from Rs 15.75 as on December 2007 to Rs 17.05.
Net interest margin registered an improvement from 2.61 per cent as in December 2007 to 3 per cent of the corresponding period of this fiscal.
Return on Average Assets (annualized) for the Q3 increased to 1.11 per cent as compared to 0.98 per cent for the same quarter a year ago. Capital to Risk Weighted Assets Ratio after the recent bonus issue of shares now works out to 14.62 per cent vis-à-vis the regulatory minimum of 9 per cent, said a press release issued by the bank.
The bank’s asset quality recorded further improvement both in terms of gross and net ratios. Gross NPA of the bank declined to 1.85 per cent, as compared to 2.53 per cent a year ago. As on December 2008, net NPA ratio came down to 0.39 per cent against 0.49 per cent in December 2007.