The country’s largest lender SBI on Friday reported a nearly six-fold jump in its September quarter consolidated net profit at Rs 3,375.40 crore, prominently aided by a partial stake sale in its life insurance venture.
The bank’s net profit was Rs 576.46 crore in the July-September period of the previous fiscal.
The State Bank of India’s (SBI) total income on a consolidated basis rose to Rs 89,347.91 crore in the quarter under review, compared to Rs 79,302.72 crore in the year-ago period, the bank said in a regulatory filing.
“Exceptional items represent net profit of Rs 3,190.97 crore on sale of partial investment in SBI Life Insurance Company. Consequently, the holding of SBI in the subsidiary has reduced to 57.60% from 62.10%,” it said.
The SBI sold 4.5% stake in SBI Life Insurance in September as part of its effort to increase public float as per the regulation.
On standalone basis, the bank’s net profit for the September quarter rose nearly three-fold to Rs 3,011.73 crore as against Rs 944.87 crore in the corresponding three months a year ago. Standalone income came in at Rs 72,850.78 crore during July-September, against Rs 66,607.98 crore a year ago. Net interest income, or the core income, rose 17% year-on-year to Rs 24,600 crore, surpassing the Rs 23,075-crore estimate.
The asset quality of the bank improved with gross non-performing assets (NPAs) declining to 7.19% of gross advances as on September 30, 2019, from 9.95% a year ago. Net NPAs or bad loans too declined to 2.79% of advances from 4.84% in the year-ago period. As a result, gross NPAs in absolute terms reduced to Rs 1.61 lakh crore from Rs 2.05 lakh crore in the year-ago quarter. Similarly, provision for bad loans declined to Rs 11,396.87 crore as compared to Rs 10,381.31 crore in the same quarter a year ago. With regard to gross slippage, the bank said, it declined to Rs 8,805 crore during the quarter from Rs 10,725 crore in the year-ago period. Provision coverage ratio was 81.23% as on September 30, 2019. Net interest margin improved to 3.22% from 2.78% at the end of the second quarter of the previous fiscal.
Arvind Q2 net profit at Rs 49.68 crore
Textile major Arvind Ltd on Friday reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 49.68 crore for the September quarter. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 56.10 crore in the July-September quarter a year ago, the company said in a BSE filing.
Net sales during the quarter stood at Rs 1,962.19 crore as against Rs 1,792.91 crore in the year-ago quarter.
The results are not comparable with the previous year’s period because of demerger of its branded apparel to Arvind Fashions Ltd with effect from November 30, 2018.
Arvind’s total expenses stood at Rs 1,900.40 crore. Revenue from the textile segment was at Rs 1,647.86 crore and Rs 182.54 crore from the advanced material segment.
Airtel Africa Q2 net profit up 78%
Bharti Airtel’s African arm Airtel Africa on Friday reported a 78% jump in net profit to USD 96 million for the second quarter ended on September 30, 2019, driven by growth in customer base. The company had recorded a net profit of USD 54 million in the same period a year ago. The profit growth of the company, which provides telecom services in 14 African countries, was 83.6% during the period under review in constant currency terms.
“The constant currency revenue growth of 11.4% was driven by double-digit growth in Nigeria and East Africa, partially offset by a slight decrease in Rest of Africa,” Airtel Africa said in a statement.
The revenue of Airtel Africa grew 9.8% to USD 844 million during the reported quarter from USD 769 million in the corresponding quarter of 2018-19. The average revenue per user almost remained flat at USD 2.8 in the second quarter. However, it grew by 2.4% on constant currency basis.
Total customer base of Airtel Africa grew by 10.4% to 103.9 million from 94.1 million during the period under review. Data users on the company’s network grew by 17.7% to 31.9 million in July-September 2019 from 27.1 million a year ago. The net debt on the company almost halved to USD 3,191 million at the end of September 30, 2019, from USD 6,439 million a year ago.
Strides Pharma Q2 net profit Rs 142 crore
Drug firm Strides Pharma Science on Friday reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 141.91 crore for the September quarter. The company had posted a loss of Rs 8.70 crore for the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, Strides Pharma Science said in a BSE filing. Consolidated total income stood at Rs 728.08 crore for the quarter under consideration as against Rs 529.46 crore for the same period year ago.