Yes Bank springs double surprise

Mumbai: Private lender Yes Bank on Thursday beat Street estimates with net profits rising 29 per cent for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2018, to Rs 1,179.4 crore from Rs 914.12 crore in the year-ago period.

Analysts expected the bank to post net profits of around Rs 1,000 crore.

The bank also reported an improvement in its asset quality with the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) declining to Rs 2,626.80 crore from Rs 2,974.34 crore in the preceding quarter.

The percentage of gross NPAs also fell to 1.28 per cent from 1.72 per cent on a sequential basis.

Yes Bank further said that there was a minimal impact of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) circular issued in February on the resolution of stressed assets.

However, for 2016-17, there was a divergence of Rs 6,355.20 crore in the reporting of gross NPAs with that assessed by the RBI.

The bank had reported the gross NPA at Rs 2,018.60 crore against the RBI's assessment of Rs 8,373.80 crore. Of this, while Rs 2,434 crore have been repaid and Rs 803 crore sold to ARCs, the rest of around Rs 2,633 crore have been upgraded as standard accounts because of satisfactory conduct.

The stock markets gave a thumbs-up to the numbers with the Yes Bank share surging 8.26 per cent, or Rs 26.85, to Rs 352.05 on the BSE.

The bank's board at a meeting on Thursday also recommended a dividend of Rs 2.70 per share.

"Fiscal 2017-18 has been a landmark year in Yes Bank's growth phase. Well segmented and granular growth across corporate, MSME and retail businesses has resulted in advances crossing Rs 2 lakh crore, demonstrating the breadth of product offerings and the depth of relationships across segments and sectors," Rana Kapoor, managing director and CEO of Yes Bank, said.

During the quarter, Yes Bank's total assets grew 45.3 per cent to Rs 3,12,445.6 crore, while deposits showed a rise of 40.5 per cent at Rs 2,00,738.1 crore.

The bank's board on Thursday also proposed the reappointment of Kapoor as the managing director and CEO for a period of three years, commencing September, 1 2018, subject to the approval of the shareholders and the RBI.

Yes Bank