ICICI Bank shares lose 2% as results fail to enthuse investors

Shares of ICICI Bank today fell by 2 per cent after the company's fourth quarter earnings failed to meet market expectations.

The stock fell by 1.85 per cent to settle at Rs 302.40 on the BSE. During the day, it slipped 3.61 per cent to Rs 296.95.

On the NSE, it lost 1.93 per cent to end the day at Rs 302.30.

ICICI Bank reported mixed set of numbers with PAT growth of 10.2 per cent y-o-y in Q4 FY'15, while asset quality continues to deteriorate," said Vaibhav Agrawal, VP Research ? Banking, Angel Broking.
Country's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank today registered 10.2 per cent rise in its net profit at Rs 2,922 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2015 on the back of higher interest income.

The bank's net profit in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal stood at Rs 2,652.01 crore, ICICI Bank said in a filing to the BSE.

"Standalone profit after tax (or net profit) increased by 10 per cent to Rs 2,922 crore (USD 468 million) for the quarter ended March 31, 2015 from Rs 2,652 crore (USD 424 million) for the quarter ended March 31, 2014."

The bank's net interest income increased 17 per cent to Rs 5,079 crore (USD 813 million) in fourth quarter of 2015 from Rs 2,976 crore (USD 476 million) in the corresponding quarter of 2014.

The net interest margin (NIM) in the fourth quarter stood at 3.57 per cent.

On the asset quality front, the gross non-performing assets (NPA) or bad loans rose to 3.78 per cent of the gross advances during the last quarter, from 3.03 per cent in the similar quarter of previous fiscal.

Also, net NPAs grew to 1.61 per cent of net advances, over 0.97 per cent in the year-ago period.

"Stocks of ICICI Bank closed down after it came up with a mixed set of results. Strong net interest income, other income and operating profit boosted the bottomline but sharp rise in provisions capped the profits. Asset quality worsened, too, during the quarter," said Aamir Mir, Analyst, HBJ Capital.

In the stock market, the BSE 30-share key index Sensex ended at 27,176.99, down 260.95 points.