United Bank swings into profit in Q3, but bad loan concerns persist

New Delhi: State-owned United Bank of India today posted net profit of Rs 41.78 crore for its third quarter ended 31 December despite increase in bad loans. The had a net loss of Rs 1,238.08 crore in the October-December quarter of the 2013-14 financial year. [caption id=“attachment_2048431” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption]Shares of the bank were trading at Rs 37 per unit, down 1.33 percent, on the BSE in the afternoon trade. As far as bank’s asset quality is concerned, gross NPAs as a percentage to total advances rose to 12.03 percent from 10.82 percent in the same quarter an year ago. Its net NPAs went up to 8.50 percent from 7.44 percent at the end of December 2013, United Bank of India said in a statement. Gross NPA in absolute terms, however, declined to Rs 7,809.38 crore as compared to Rs 8,545.50 crore at the end of December 2013. As a result, total provisions, excluding for income tax, made during the third quarter of 2014-15 came down to Rs 520.42 crore as against Rs 1,857.83 crore in the year-ago period. The total income declined marginally to Rs 2,934.66 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2014-15 from Rs 2,986.80 crore in the same quarter last fiscal. However, operating profit of the bank rose to Rs 602.77 crore as against Rs 545.08 crore in the year-ago period. During the first three quarters of 2014-15, United Bank of India’s net profit rose Rs 151.47 crore, compared to loss of Rs 1,682.82 crore in the year-ago period. The bank’s total income for the nine month period in the current fiscal is Rs 1,165.65 crore, compared to Rs 895.13 crore in the same period of the previous financial year. PTI