Manappuram Finance Q4 Results: Profit beats Street estimates on healthy loan growth
Manappuram Finance reported a better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit on Friday, helped by strong loan growth at both its gold and non-gold segments.
The company's consolidated net profit attributable to owners of parent rose about 36% to 5.62 billion rupees ($67.7 million) for the three months ended March 31, above analysts' expectations of 5.59 billion rupees, according to LSEG data.
Pick-up consumer spending has kept loan growth strong despite high interest rates. Meanwhile, Indian lenders have struggled with rising costs amid tighter liquidity conditions.
The non-gold portfolio accounted for about 49% of Manappuram's total assets under management (AUM) little changed from the previous quarter, helped by strong demand in its micro finance, auto and housing loan businesses.
For the last few quarters, the company has been looking to bolster its non-gold loan portfolio.
Meanwhile, the gold-loan portfolio's share was at 51%, unchanged from the previous quarter.
Borrowing against gold has surged, with benchmark spot gold prices rising 22% in the January-March quarter from a year ago.
Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has stepped up vigilance over banks and non-bank finance companies to protect customer interest. It asked rival IIFL Finance to stop disbursing gold loans in early March citing «material supervisory concerns.»
Manappuram's total AUM was up about 19% at 421 billion rupees as of March 31 while its consolidated interest income rose 32% to 22.73 billion rupees during the quarter.
Its
