Shares of UCO Bank rallied 4.41 percent to ₹30.75 apiece in Wednesday's trade after the bank posted a net profit of ₹652.97 crore in Q3FY23, an increase of 110.37 percent compared to a net profit of ₹310.39 crore in the same quarter of last year.
On Tuesday, the bank said its net profit during Q3 and the first three quarters of FY23 was the highest ever in the 80 years of the bank's history. The net profit for the first three quarters of the bank came in at Rs. 1,281 crore.
The bank's Net Interest Income (NII) during the October-December 2022 quarter increased to Rs. 1,951.87 crore as against Rs. 1,762.61 crore during the same quarter last year, registering a YoY growth of 10.74 percent.
On the asset quality side, the gross NPAs of the bank dipped to 5.63 percent of the gross advances in Q3FY23 from 8 percent a year ago. While, the net NPA fell to 1.66 percent from 2.81 percent in the previous similar period. The provision coverage ratio increased to 93.58 percent in Q3, from 91.30 percent last year.
"We expect business growth of advances and deposits in the fourth quarter will continue to be robust. Advances had grown 20.5 percent during the quarter. With revision of rates, healthy growth in deposits is expected," UCO Bank MD & CEO Soma Sankara Prasad said.
Reacting to strong Q3 numbers, the stock opened the Wednesday trading session strongly at ₹30.20 apiece, as against the previous closing price of ₹29.45. The stock then rose further, reaching an intraday high of ₹30.75. The stock is currently trading 183 percent higher than its 52-week low of ₹10.6.
At noon, the scrip was trading at around ₹30.15, up by 2.38 percent, on the BSE.
During November and December last year, the stock generated a whopping return of 50 percent and 59 percent, respectively. In CY22, the stock produced a staggering return of 142 percent, moving from ₹13 apiece to ₹31.50.
The stock gained traction in November last year after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved nine Russian banks to open special Vostro accounts with UCO Bank and IndusInd Bank to facilitate overseas trade in rupees.
Meanwhile, in September 2021, the RBI removed UCO Bank from the prompt corrective action framework. The bank came out of PCA restrictions after more than four years. The RBI initiated prompt corrective action in May 2017 given high non-performing assets and a negative return on assets.
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