Capital First Says Credit Performance In SME Portfolio Is Improving

Capital First Ltd., a financial institution which provides debt financing to small entrepreneurs, said its credit quality is improving.

“We have had absolutely no year or quarter which has bothered us significantly,” Chairman and Managing Director V Vaidyanathan told BloombergQuint. “It has been quite stable.”

But “with the kind of growth we are seeing in SME and consumption, we have to be careful”, he added.

Close to 90 percent of Capital First’s loan book comprises retail, consumption and SME loans.

Key Earnings Highlights

• Net interest income grew 51 percent year-on-year to Rs 528 crore.
• Net profit grew 55.2 percent to Rs 101.5 crore.
• Fee income fell 33 percent to Rs 74 crore (due to transition to new accounting standard).
• Provisions at Rs 154 crore against Rs 167 crore a year ago.
• Retail loan portfolio contributed to 91 percent of its overall assets under management.
• Retail loan book grew 38 percent to Rs 27,220 crore.
• Gross NPA at 1.57 percent compared with 1.72 percent a year ago.
• Net NPA at 1 percent against 1.04 percent a year ago.

Capital First rose as much as 4.14 percent to Rs 566 in early trade today.