Edelweiss Financial Services on Friday reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 46 crore in the third quarter, a 56 per cent increase over the year-ago period when it netted Rs 29-crore profit, driven by a huge increase in fees from its credit business. Its subsidiary Edelweiss Capital posted net profit at Rs 29.4 crore, up 12 per cent from Rs 26.3 a year ago. Total income grew 22.3 per cent to Rs 455 crore from Rs 372 crore.
Chairman and Chief Executive Rashesh Shah termed the numbers “good”. He attributed these to business diversification strategy and growth in fee income from its credit business.
He said, “Our performance shows the resilience of our diversified business model, as we achieved significant top line growth and a reasonable bottom line growth even in these tough market conditions. However, the bottom line growth continues to be challenged, due to a combination of external and internal factors.”
The company remains focused on its core strategy to build a diverse set of businesses that will help moderate the impact of volatile market conditions and achieve long-term growth, he said. Had it not been for the Rs 14-15 crore loss incurred by insurance arm, he said, the total profit in the quarter ended December 31 would have been over Rs 61 crore. The group saw total revenue rising 19 per cent to Rs 540 crore from Rs 454 crore a year ago, taking the group networth to Rs 3,004 crore. The insurance income rose to Rs 10.38 crore from Rs 2.03 crore a year ago, the company said.
Credit disbursal touched Rs 1,400 crore in the quarter from Rs 1,200 crore in Q2, Shah said, adding the company was disbursing an average of Rs 60-70 crore every month.
Interest and capital-based income rose to Rs 439 crore from Rs 373 crore a year ago, up 18 per cent. This income stream includes income from credit and commodities businesses and treasury operations, the company said. Fee and commission income from agency businesses rose to Rs 83 crore in Q3 from Rs 77 crore a year ago. This income includes income from broking, investment banking, asset management and wealth advisory businesses.
Edelweiss’ wealth management business continued to be of over Rs 3,000 crore, while the structured products portfolio scaled up to more than Rs 880 crore. Shah said though the company could improve the margins in the brokerage business to three-five per cent during the reporting quarter, it is still early days to say that the broking business is out of the woods. Normally, the margins in this space is 15-20 per cent.