Sundaram Finance logged its highest-ever annual disbursement besides achieving over ₹1,000 crore in net profit from ordinary business in FY23. The Chennai-based non-banking finance company (NBFC) recorded a 58 per cent year-on-year growth in disbursements to ₹20,966 crore in the previous fiscal, against a disbursement of ₹13,275 crore in FY22.
Addressing a press conference, Rajiv C Lochan, Managing Director, Sundaram Finance, said the record disbursements across its asset classes and geographies came after three challenging years, starting with slowdown in commercial vehicle sales and followed by two years of Covid pandemic.
Of the total disbursements, the share of medium and heavy commercials (M&HCV) financing accounted for 31 per cent, followed by passenger cars (24 per cent), retail commercial vehicles (17.7 per cent), and construction equipment (10.8 per cent).
The total assets under management recorded a year-on-year growth of 17 per cent to ₹34,552 crore as of March 2023, against ₹29,532 crore at the end of March 2022.
The lender’s net profit grew by 20 per cent to ₹1,088 crore (₹903 crore) during the previous financial year. “This is the first time, excluding exceptional items, we recorded ₹1,000 crore-plus profit number. That is another milestone for us,” added Lochan.
The company’s total revenue from operations grew 5 per cent in FY23 to ₹4,046 crore (₹3,870 crore), while expenses dropped marginally to ₹2,690 crore (₹2,714 crore) during this period.
Gross Stage 3 assets improved to 1.66 per cent as of March 2023, from 2.19 per cent as of March 2022. Stage 3 assets are loans that are overdue for more than 3 months.
The lender’s gross non-performing assets (NPA) stood at 3 per cent as of March 2023, against 2.1 per cent as of March 2022. However, Lochan said the gross NPA figures during the two periods are not comparable since the latest NPA figures are arrived at as per RBI’s new asset classification norms for NBFCs, while the NPA for the previous period is as per the old norms.
On a quarterly basis, the company’s standalone net profit grew by 6 per cent yoy to ₹316 crore (₹299 crore) in Q4 FY23, while revenue from operations went up to ₹1,054 crore (₹940 crore).
Sundaram Finance’s consolidated net profit grew by 16 per cent to ₹1,500 crore (₹1,296 crore), while consolidated revenues stood at ₹5,476 crore (₹5,108 crore).
The consolidated figures include results of standalone subsidiaries, Sundaram Home Finance, Sundaram Asset Management, and joint venture company, Royal Sundaram General Insurance.
Final dividend
The company declared a final dividend of ₹15 per share in addition to ₹12 of interim dividend for FY23.
Shares of Sundaram Finance closed at ₹2,485.10 apiece on NSE on Friday, down by 1 per cent from Thursday’s closing price.