Axis Bank slips on poor Q1 show

Axis Bank is amongst the top losers on the BSE since morning as the market remains very disappointed with the Bank’s Q1FY17 performance. Intra day, the stock price slipped down over 4% to Rs.515 but has recouped since then.

The private sector bank posted a very disturbing set of numbers. Its profitability slipped and its asset quality also fell, slipping down much more than all analyst estimates.

The Bank’s net profit fell 21% (YoY) to Rs.1555 crore and this was mainly on account of the increase in provisioning, which was at Rs.2117 crore, up 81% sequentially and up 89% YoY. Fresh slippages also rose 36% (QoQ) and of this, corporate slippages were to the tune of Rs.2911 crore. Restructured book went down to 2.14% v/s 2.38% (QoQ) and though there was no sale of stressed assets to ARCs, four of its accounts continued to remain in the 5/25 scheme. Importantly, its outstanding watchlist now stands at Rs.20.295 crore. CASA slipped from 47.3% to 43%.

Gross NPA rose sharply from 1.67% to 2.54% and Net NPA was up from 0.7% to 1.08%. On the earnings front, NII was up 11% (YoY) at Rs.4517 crore.