Quarter 4 Results : ICICI Bank beats estimates, Q4 net up 31% at Rs 1,902 cr

Aided by higher interest income and other income growth, India's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank on Friday reported a forecast beating 31% year-on-year jump in its fourth quarter (Jan-March) net profit at Rs 1,902 crore.

Net interest income (NII) or the difference between interest earned and paid out rose 24% to Rs 3,105 crore. Loan book expanded by 17% y-o-y to Rs 2.54 lakh crore. However, it was a muted growth at just 3% during the Jan-March period, the peak of so-called busy season (Oct-March).

The net interest margin (NIM) rose to 3.01% from 2.70% in the previous quarter.  Other income climbed 17% to Rs 2,228 crore.

During the quarter, the bank's net non-performing (NPA) ratio improved to 0.62% compared with 0.94% in Q3, FY12. Gross NPA ratio too fell from 1.11% to 0.73%.  
Moreover, overall asset quality has improved during the 12 month period. Consequently, provisions and contingencies dropped to 1,583 crore compared with 2,287 crore. Interestingly, the same went up to Rs 469 crore as against Rs 341 crore in Q3 despite a sequential fall in NPAs.

The bank has a strong capital adequacy ratio of 18.52%, way above the Reserve Bank of India's mandated 9% mark. This means, the lender is sitting on excess unused capital. However, the bank did not give any specific direction for its growth plans.

Meanwhile, the bank's restructured loan book stood at Rs 4,256 crore in FY12 as against Rs 1970 crore in FY11. The bulk of the restructuring, according to the MD, took place in Q3 and Q4. The lender does not see any more threat from its restructured assets in FY13.

For the full fiscal year, net profit shot up 26% y-o-y to Rs 6,465 crore while the consolidated net profit increased by 25% to 7,643. The bank has declared a dividend of Rs 16.50 per share.

Quarter 4 Result : Axis Bank Q4 net up 25% on higher interest income

India's third largest private sector lender Axis Bank on Friday reported a 25% year-on-year jump in its fourth quarter net profit (Jan-March) at Rs 1,277 crore, strengthened by higher interest income. Net interest income or the difference between interests earned and paid, climbed 26% to Rs 2,146 crore. 

The numbers are partially better than market expectations. A CNBC-TV18 poll predicted a net profit growth of 16 while NII at 26.5%. 

Net interest margin (NIM) rose to 3.55% from 3.44% in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Fee inocme rose 8% y-o-y to Rs 1,327 crore.

For the fiscal year 2011-12, net profit rose at a similar pace by 25 to Rs 4,242 crore. The bank’s loan book expanded by 19% to Rs 1.42 lakh crore.

During the year, the gross non-performing asset (NPA) ratio improved to 0.94% as against 1.01% a year back. The net NPA ratio too fell marginally from 0.26% to 0.25%. Consequently, provisions and contingence fell to Rs 1,143 crore as against Rs 1,280 crore.

In the Jan-March quarter, the bank restructured loans worth Rs 558 crore.  Total restructured assets stood at Rs 3,060 crore as against Rs 1,930 crore.

Deposits grew a little above 16% to Rs 2.20 lakh crore. Demand deposits (current account + saving account), however increaed at a faster pace by 18% to Rs 91,422 crore.  Hence, the share of CASA to total deposits improved to 42% compared with 41% a year back.

 

Axis Bank has proposed a dividend of Rs 16 per share. Meanwhile, the board of the bank has also approved the reassessment of the valuation of the Enam Securities at Rs 1,396 crore and consequently in consideration of demerger, the bank will issue shares in the ratio of 5 equity shares of bank for every 1 equity share held by shareholders of the Enam.

Indian Stock Market : Maruti Suzuki Quarter IV Result

Maruti Suzuki beat street expectations Saturday as fourth quarter net profit fell lower-than-expected 3% from a year ago to Rs 640 crore, helped by a rebound in sales and a surge in other income. 

Net sales for the three-month-period were up 17% year-on-year to Rs 11,486.4 crore.

On a sequential basis, the company's net profit more than trebled, while net sales were up 50% over Oct-Dec quarter.

Analysts on average had expected Maruti to report a fourth quarter profit of Rs 530 crore on revenue of Rs 12,012 crore.

Other income, which more than doubled to Rs 296.85 crore, also put brakes on the declining profits.

In the fourth quarter, Maruti's raw material costs rose 18% year-on-year to Rs 8,874.10 crore.

Its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) margin was down 270bps year-on-year, but up 200 bps sequentially at 7.3%.

During the quarter, the company sold 3,60,334 units, up 4.9% year-on-year.For the full year (2011-12), Maruti Suzuki's total sales volumes declined near 11% from a year ago to 11,33,695 units.

Maruti Suzuki shares closed up 1.1% at Rs 1,397.45 on NSE on Friday. The stock is up over 50% since Dec-end.

World Stock Market : Wall Street week ahead: In battle of the S&P, can bulls gain the edge

It will be another battleground for S&P 500 index next week. Will the bears finally give up and let the bulls have their way?

The S&P 500, the market's broadest measure, managed to close out the week above the psychologically important 1,400 mark for the first time since early April. But the index is still down 0.4 per cent for the month so far even after gaining 1.8 per cent for the week, with only one trading day left in April.

Brian Lazorishak, senior quantitative analyst and portfolio manager at Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia, said a close above 1,400 is positive, but the recent high, near 1,422, is a more important technical level.

"That's what we're looking for on the upside as confirmation there's room to move higher," Lazorishak said.

"A close above that would open the window to testing highs back to early 2008. The next natural area you'd see is a run to at least 1,440, the May 2008 high."

Next week's release of a slew of economic data on the U.S. labor market and the beginning of the latter half of corporate earnings will be keenly watched to see if they are enough to allow stocks to break above the recent trading range.

The S&P 500, up 11.6 per cent for the year, jumped 4.4 per cent in January, 4.1 per cent in February and 3.1 per cent in March, but is down 0.4 per cent so far this month.

"The sideways action we have seen over the past few weeks was enough to alleviate any overbought conditions that existed in the market a month ago," said Larry McMillan, president of options research firm McMillan Analysis Corp in a report on Friday.

"Thus, the market has the potential for another leg higher in this longer term uptrend, one that began early October 2011," he said.

JOBS, JOBS, JOBS At the top of investors' radar screen next week will be the government's closely watched monthly jobs report for April, to be released on Friday. Jobs growth in March slowed to 120,000, the smallest increase since October, disappointing investors even though the unemployment rate fell to a three-year low of 8.2 per cent.

Ahead of the government's payrolls report, investors will be watching the ADP Employment Report due on Wednesday and weekly jobless claims data due on Thursday for indications of whether the labor market is gaining momentum.

Corporate earnings, which drove gains in stocks last week, will also be in focus.

As of Friday, 57 per cent of the S&P 500 companies had reported first-quarter results. Of those 287 in the S&P 500 that had reported earnings, 72.8 per cent posted results that topped analysts' expectations, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Companies due to report earnings next week include Chesapeake Energy and Pfizer Inc on Tuesday; Prudential Financial, Time Warner and Visa Inc

on Wednesday; and Kraft Foods and Viacom Inc on Thursday. Also on agenda next week, Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase & Co, has organized a meeting of major bank chief executives with Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo, the central bank's point man on regulation, according to The Wall Street Journal on Friday.

The meeting, slated for Wednesday in New York, is expected to focus on a Fed proposal to limit banks' exposure to other firms and governments, though other regulatory concerns likely will be discussed.

Indian Stock Market : M-cap of top 7 firms dips Rs 28,760 crore; SBI biggest loser

MUMBAI: Led by SBI, seven of the 10 most valued Sensex companies saw a dip of Rs 28,760 crore in their combined market capitalisation (m-cap) in last week's trading.

The country's top, state-owned lender SBI shed Rs 8,217 crore from its m-cap which was Rs 1,35,321 crore on Saturday.

Coal India's value dropped Rs 7,200 crore to Rs 2,21,799 crore, becoming the second biggest loser in the list.

Bharti Airtel shed Rs 6,512 crore from its m-cap, which stood at Rs 1,16,584 crore, while NTPC's value diminished Rs 2,515 crore to Rs 1,33,947 crore.

ONGC lost Rs 1,968 crore in value to reach Rs 2,25,736 crore; HDFC Bank - Rs 1,805 crore at Rs 1,27,353 crore and Infosys - Rs 543 crore at Rs 1,37,631 crore.

In contrast, RIL, TCS and ITC saw spurt in their m-cap. TCS was the biggest gainer as its m-cap advanced by Rs 22,224 crore to reach Rs 2,35,443 crore, while RIL's value jumped Rs 2,767 crore at Rs 2,42,283 crore and ITC added Rs 1,134 crore to its valuation which was Rs 1,92,919 crore.

Last week, TCS posted a healthy 21.9 per cent rise in net profit for 2011-12 at Rs 10,638.2 crore and said it is on track to outperform the industry revenue growth of 11-14 per cent set by industry body Nasscom for 2012-13.

It also became the first Indian IT company to cross the 10 billion dollar milestone, posting annual revenues of USD 10.17 billion in 2011-12.

Shares of the company soared over 10 per cent last week. RIL was at the top position, followed by TCS which toppled CIL to grab the second position. ONGC was at third spot, followed by ITC, SBI, Infosys, NTPC, HDFC Bank and Bharti in that order.

During the week, the BSE benchmark index Sensex fell by 1 per cent to 17,187.34.

World Stock Market : Apple, Amazon drive US stocks past dull GDP data

NEW YORK: Tech giants Apple and Amazon proved their mettle to doubting investors once again, leading US stocks higher in the week to Friday as the markets showed they had not yet run out of steam.

The world's biggest company, market value-wise, and the Internet's biggest retailer, both showed up analysts with forecast-busting results that gave the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 firm boosts.

They also helped distract from other possible sources of investor worry -- a somewhat glum US growth report for the first quarter, Federal Reserve inaction on hopes for more stimulus, new worries in Europe and some concern about Chinese growth.

Friday brought a lower-than-forecast estimate for first-quarter US growth, of only 2.2 per cent, down from 3.0 per cent in the final quarter of 2011.

But even that failed to dull the markets, which turned in gains for the day.

US markets scored a firm performance for the week, with earnings from a number of firms beating forecasts and cheering the investors.

For the week the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.53 per cent to end at 13,228.31, and the S&P gained 1.8 per cent to 1,403.36.

The Nasdaq though picked up 2.29 per cent, helped mainly by Apple's 5.2 per cent gain for the week, and Amazon's 19.4 per cent run.

Also helping the markets were blue-chip Boeing's earnings, which delivered a 5.1 per cent boost to the aircraft maker's shares for the period.

"The reporting period has been much better than expected, although admittedly from a lower bar -- 83 per cent of companies have beaten expectations so far, which is an all-time record high," said analysts at Charles Schwab & Co.

"But market reactions to good reports have been more muted relative to the punishments doled out to those that disappointed."

Among the disappointments were Caterpillar, which lost 2.9 per cent for the week; Procter & Gamble, down 4.6 per cent; and United Continental, down 3.2 per cent.

Even so, said Bryan Sapp of Schaeffer's Investment Research, the markets did not appear to want to fall.

"The one certainty remains that this market is made of Teflon. Seemingly no matter what happens, the bears just can't manage to take the reins and drive us lower, despite abysmal economic data and numerous macroeconomic fears," he said.

The Charles Schwab analysts said they remained optimistic, but wary nonethless.

"Despite an earnings season that has been much better than expected so far, investors appear to be again focusing on more macro concerns," they said.

"Europe and China are dominant concerns but US growth sustainability is also being questioned."

Company results in the coming week include Pfizer and Motorola (Tuesday), Comcast and Time-Warner (Wednesday), and Viacom, Kraft, AIG and General Motors (Thursday).

Even if company earnings are driving sentiment, eyes will still be on data releases covering April in the coming week: consumer spending (Monday), the ISM manufacturing index (Tuesday), industrial orders (Wednesday); and the ISM services survey (Thursday).
Source : Economics Times