TMB declares ₹700/share as second interim dividend

The board of directors of Tamilnad Mercantile Bank, at a meeting on Monday, decided to pay a second interim dividend of ₹700 a share.

This is in addition to the interim dividend of ₹900 a share declared by the bank in January and paid to its shareholders. The book value of the share has increased to ₹91,203 from ₹79,788 last year, the bank said in a release.

Performance highlights The 93-year-old private bank registered a 26 per cent growth in its bottomline with net profit rising to ₹379.40 crore as on end-March 2015 from ₹300.77 crore clocked during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

Total business grew 13 per cent year-on-year to reach ₹44,985.81 crore. Interest income increased 4.92 per cent to ₹2,835.53 crore (₹2,702.65 crore) and interest outgo was up 7.23 per cent at ₹1,952.11 crore.

Gross and net NPAs fell to 1.63 per cent and 0.67 per cent in 2014-15 from 2.46 per cent and 1.22 per cent in 2013-14, respectively.The bank strengthened its branch network to 430 and ATMs to 880 as of end-March 2015. It plans to add 75 new branches and 220 ATMs this fiscal. “Our focus would be on accelerating CASA and extending credit to MSMEs, retail trade and agriculture,” the bank’s MD and CEO HS Upendra Kamath said. The bank, which opened an SME branch at Tuticorin last year, plans to open four more SME branches and 10 e-lobbies this fiscal. Last year, it had opened five e-lobbies.