PNB Housing Finance, which had closed yesterday at Rs.487.35, opened today at Rs.473 and went on to hit the 5% LC at Rs.463, where it now remains frozen.

The stock hit the LC on the back of its poor show for Q3FY22, wherein it reported a 19% (YoY) decline in net profit at Rs.188 crore.

NII fell 26% to Rs.439 crore while operating profit fell 30% to Rs.383 crore. NII margin also saw a sharp fall from 3.2%  (YoY) and 3.01% (QoQ) to 2.7%.

That’s not all. PNB Housing’s assets under management (AUM) de-grew 5% (QoQ) and 14% (YoY) primarily on account of loan sell down, accelerated payments and no new sanctions in the corporate book.

The main reason for the LC was also the sharp deterioration in the asset quality – though Gross NPA fell from 5.92% to 4.47% (QoQ) and net NPA rose from 3.32% to 4.47%.

NPA is a debt obligation where the borrower has not made any previously agreed upon interest and principal repayments to the lender for an extended period of time.