Diversified financial services major Reliance Capital Ltd on Thursday reported a 19.5 per cent decline in net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2013, at Rs 265 crore (Rs 329 crore).
Total income from operations (net) for the quarter under review declined about 15 per cent to Rs 1,666 crore (Rs 1,955 crore). However, net profit for financial year 2012-13 increased 77 per cent to Rs 812 crore (Rs 458 crore). Total income for 2012-13 increased 13 per cent to Rs 7,519 crore (Rs 6,627 crore).
80% dividend
Encouraged by the financial performance for 2012-13, the Board of Directors on Thursday declared a dividend of 80 per cent (Rs 8 on a share of Rs 10 each).
The sharp increase in net profit for 2012-13 has come mainly due to improved performance in the general insurance business, asset management business besides gain from stake sale in Reliance Capital Asset Management Company in the second quarter last fiscal, Sam Ghosh, Chief Executive Officer of Reliance Capital, told
The bottomline of Reliance Life Insurance remained almost flat at Rs 380 crore in 2012-13. Reliance Capital has a 38 per cent stake in Reliance Life.
While Reliance Capital’s overall net profit is unlikely to increase 77 per cent in the current fiscal, there could be a 10-15 per cent jump, mainly from better performance expected from its asset management, general insurance and commercial finance businesses, Ghosh said.
Reliance General Insurance is most likely to register net profit for the full financial year 2013-14, Ghosh said. In 2012-13, this business has reported a loss of Rs 93 crore against a loss of Rs 342 crore last year.
Reliance Capital plans to offload a stake in Reliance General Insurance during the current fiscal, Ghosh said.
Banking licence
Asked if any of the businesses controlled by Reliance Capital will raise capital this fiscal, Ghosh replied in the negative. “There is no capital-raising plan. If at all we need to, it could be for our banking foray”, he said, adding that Reliance Capital certainly planned to apply for a banking licence (from RBI) in the coming days.