ICICI Bank Q4 Net Profit Rises By 15%

ICICI Bank, India's largest private sector bank by asset size posted muted set of numbers for the quarter ended March 31, 2014. Bank recorded net profit of Rs 2652 crore for Q4FY14, which is up by 15.1% on yearly basis but below the market expectation of around 20%.  This increase in profit was mainly aided by the rise in non-interest income, which forms one fifth of the total income (interest income and other income) of the bank. It grew by 34.8% on yearly basis and stood at Rs 2976.09 crore for Q4FY14. 

Bank's net interest income (NII), difference between interests earned and expended, increased by 14.5% on yearly basis and stood at Rs 4356.52 crore for Q4FY14. This figure is again lower than street expectation of little over Rs 4400 crore. Increase in NII was driven by improvement in net interest margin, which increased from 3.11% at the end of Q4FY13 to 3.35% at the end of Q4FY14, and advances growth of 17% on year-on-year basis to Rs 3.38 lakh crore at March 2014 from Rs 2.9 lakh crore in last year. Retail segment, which grew by 23% in the same period, aided overall loan growth of the bank.

The asset quality of the bank has been mixed for the bank. The gross non-performing assets (NPA) of the bank has decreased on both sequential as well as on yearly basis while net NPA has increased in the same period. Gross NPA declined to 3.03% in Q4FY14 compared to 3.05% in Q4FY13, whereas net NPA increased from 0.94% to 0.97% in the same period. The restructured assets too saw increase of Rs 1956 crore against the management guidance of Rs 3000 crore at the end of third quarter. 

The board of directors of the bank has recommended a dividend of Rs 23 per share for FY14.

Currently a share of the bank is trading at price to book value of 1.86 times.