Housing arm merger talk propels Vijaya Bank

Dalal Street Spikes

 The bank has announced plans to merge its housing finance arm with itself. It also said it intended to bring down its net non-performing assets (NPAs) to 1 per cent by December 2004.

 Vijaya Bank plans to hit the market with a Rs 240-crore equity issue on October 9, 2003. The public sector bank is offering 10 crore shares of Rs 10 each at a premium of Rs 14.

 For the first quarter ended June 2003, Vijaya Bank posted 98 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 80.9 crore, from Rs 40.8 crore during the corresponding period last year.

 Total income rose 30 percent to Rs 602.7 crore, from Rs 463.4 crore, while total deposits increased by 15.5 per cent to Rs 17,169 crore, from Rs 14,859 crore as on June 30, 2002.