PNB surprises D-Street in Q3; key 5 takeaways

Public lender Punjab National Bank  on 05.02.2019  reported better-than-expected financial results for the quarter ended December 31, due to sharp fall in provisions and contingencies. 

Here are the top five takeaways from PNB's third quarter earnings: 

Net profit: The public sector lender posted  7.12 per cent year-on-year rise in profit at Rs 246.51 crore against Rs 230.11 crore last year. PNB had posted a loss of Rs 4,532.35 crore in the sequential quarter ended September 30. Kotak Institutional Equities had projected a loss at Rs 1,396.70 crore for Q3 FY19. 

Provisions: Provisions and contingencies decreased 38.35 per cent YoY and 71.78 per cent QoQ to Rs 2,753.84 crore during the quarter under review. During the quarter, the bank has made provision of Rs 2,014.04 crore thereby making full provision for the fraud at Brady House branch as per terms of RBI's dispensation .

Operating profit: The figure, however, declined 26.97 per cent YoY to Rs 3,099.86 crore in Q3FY19 over Rs 4,245.19 crore in Q3FY18. 

NPAs: Asset quality of the company improved on a QoQ basis with percentage of gross non-performing assets coming in at 16.33 per cent in Q3FY19 over 17.16 per cent in Q2FY19. Net NPAs eased to 8.22 per cent over 8.90 per cent during the same period. 

NII: Net interest income, or NII, of the lender increased 7.56 per cent YoY to Rs 4290.05 crore in Q3FY19 over Rs 3988.70 crore in Q3FY18.