Sundaram Finance Ltd. (SFL) said its standalone net profit increased by 14% to ₹139 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2017 against ₹122 crore in the year-earlier period.
“We have achieved a healthy growth in both top and bottom line, notwithstanding the difficult market conditions — impacted by weak replacement buying, uncertainty surrounding the implementation of BS-IV emission norms and demonetisation,” said T.T. Srinivasaraghavan, managing director, SFL.
“We were able to achieve across-the-board growth in light commercial vehicles (LCVs), passenger cars and utility vehicles, construction equipment and tractors,” he said.
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The company reported 18% growth in its disbursement for the quarter under review to ₹3,413 crore from ₹2,893 crore. The board recommended total dividend of 115% for 2016-17 against 110% in 2015-16.
SFL mobilised fresh deposists of ₹456.65 crore and the ended FY’17 with deposits of ₹2,411 crore. Deposit renewals stood at about 80%.
Mr. Srinivasaraghavan said the gross and net non performing assets stood at 1.54% and 0.55%, respectively, in 2016-17 against 2.08% and 0.92% respectively in 2015-16.
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“We planned for broad based growth as we saw some headwinds. The commercial vehicles industry was going through rough patch and medium and heavy commercial vehicles remained flat or marginally negative,” said Mr. Srinivasaraghavan.
“During the year, the contributions came from LCVs and tractors. Going forward, we expect normal monsoon and the kick-off in road construction activities to augur well for the automotive industry,” he said.
De-merger
The de-merger of process of non-financial services investments of SFL into a wholly-owned subsidiary, Sundaram Finance Holdings Ltd., is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2017-18. SFL had already obtained a no objection letter from NSE and from the Competition Commission of India. Steps have been taken to file an application with National Company Law Tribunal for approval.