Muthoot Finance Q4 net falls 6%; shares drop over 5%

Kochi: Gold financing company Muthoot Finance today posted 6 per cent fall in net profit to Rs 220 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2013, compared to Rs 235 crore in the same period last year.

Total income of the company rose to Rs 1,411 crore in the quarter, from Rs 1,294 crore in the year ago period. Shares of the company fell sharply by 5.13 per cent to close at Rs 149.80 apiece on the BSE. For the full financial year ended March 31, the reported a growth rate of 13 per cent in net profit to Rs 1004 crore. In the previous fiscal the profit was Rs 892 crore.

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Announcing the results, Muthoot Chairman M G George Muthoot said the company could achieve 13 per cent growth in net profits crossing Rs 1000 crore in a difficult year which was marked by regulatory changes and sentiment driven market speculations affecting the interest of various key stakeholders. Muthoot could achieve a portfolio growth of 7 per cent during the full year, he added. The company's total income for FY13 stood at Rs 5,387 crore, a growth of 18 per cent, compared to Rs 4,549 crore in the previous fiscal.

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Muthoot has decided to increase the standard asset provisioning from present RBI stipulated norm of 0.25 percent to 0.30 per cent in the quarter and increase it over a period of time to achieve 0.40 per cent standard asset provisioning in the light of Usha Thorat committee recommendations and draft RBI circular issued in December 2012. Managing Director, George Alexander Muthoot, said the Board of Directors has recommended a 45 per cent dividend for the year ending FY2013.

Executive Director, K P Padmakumar said despite adverse situations, including a 27-30 per cent fall in gold prices, the company was looking at 25-30 percent growth in portfolio in the current year. There were plans to 'rejig' operations, he said.

PTI