Ujjivan Financial soars 7% on 3-fold jump in Q4 net

NEW DELHI: Ujjivan Financial Services firmed up 7 per cent today after its March quarter net profit grew over three times from the previous year.

The company reported Rs 65 crore profit for January-March, an over three-fold increase from Rs 19 crore in the year ago period.

Its strong earnings rubbed off on the stock, which jumped 7.02 per cent to hit a high of Rs 432.05 on the BSE this morning.

The bank's loan book grew 18.5 per cent year-on-year to Rs 7,560 crore as the lender has overcome the challenges post demonetisation. Its net interest margin (NIM) grew to 11.6 per cent in the fourth quarter, from 8.6 per cent a year ago. NIM stood at 11.8 per cent in the December quarter of FY18.

"We wanted to close the year in black. It's a great achievement under challenging business environment," Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Managing Director Samit Ghosh told ET.

The firm reported an annual profit of Rs 7 crore against Rs 208 crore in the preceding one. The impact of note ban, along with farm loan waiver by several state governments including Uttar Pradesh, has derailed repayment collection for small banks and micro lenders.