PNB net up 21% to Rs 314.27 cr

BS 200 SCORECARD

Punjab National Bank (PNB) announced a 21 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 314.27 crore for the quarter ended December 2004 compared with Rs 259.8 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Compared to the rise in net profit, operating profit declined to 544.5 crore from Rs 711.88 crore in the same quarter last year. S S Kohli, chairman, said this was mainly owing to lower profit from trading in government securities.

The total income for the quarter increased marginally to Rs 2380.08 crore against Rs 2362.33 crore in the same quarter last year. PNB also announced an interim dividend of 30 per cent for 2004-05.

The record date for the Rs 3 a share dividend has been fixed as February 28. For the nine months ended December 2004, the bank's net profit grew by 29.4 per cent to Rs 1049.49 compared with Rs 811.32 crore in the corresponding period last year.

The growth was achieved on back of 12.5 per cent rise in net interest income to Rs 2935 crore. The bank made provision of Rs.1131 towards wages revision, loan losses, depreciation on investment, standard advances and taxes compared with Rs 1,610 crore in the same period last year.

Operating profit for the nine months fell to Rs 2,180.23 crore compared with 2421.63 crore in same period last year. Kohli said this was mainly owing to the one-time loss of Rs 208 crore in shifting about Rs 10,000 worth of government securities from the available for sale (AFS) to yield to maturity (YTM) basis in the second quarter this fiscal.

Also in the corresponding period last year the bank had made an extra ordinary profit of Rs 293 crore in buyback scheme relating to government securities.

The total income for the nine months ended December 2004 increased by 4.8 per cent to Rs 7,574 crore from Rs 7,228 crore in the nine months ended December 2003 on the back of a 9.1 per cent rise in interest income to Rs 6,275 crore. PNB's earning per share (EPS) stood at 39.56 as on December 31, 2004 compared with 30.58 as on December 2003.