YES Bank shares slip over 4% post Q4 results

Shares of YES Bank cracked over 4% in Monday’s early trade after the lender on Friday posted a whopping standalone net loss of Rs 3,788 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2021 due to a fall in income and jump in provisions for bad loans. The bank had posted a loss of Rs 3,668 crore in the same period last year.

However, due to the exceptional write-back of Rs 6,296.94 crore, the bank’s bottom line turned positive at Rs 2,628.61 crore during the January-March period of 2019-20.

During the quarter, the total income of the bank declined to Rs 4,805.30 crore from Rs 5,818.59 crore in the same period a year ago. At the same time, provisions (other than tax expense) and contingencies rose to Rs 5,239.59 crore as compared to Rs 4,872.34 crore.

On the asset front, the bank’s gross non-performing assets (NPAs) as of March 31, 2021 stood at 15.41% of the gross advances, slightly down from 16.80% in the year-ago period.

However, net NPAs rose to 5.88% from 5.03% in the year-ago period.

For the full 2020-21 fiscal, the bank narrowed its net loss to Rs 3,462.23 crore from a loss as high as Rs 16,418.02 crore in the previous year.

Total income during the year also witnessed a decline to Rs 23,382.56 crore from Rs 29,508.10 crore a year ago. The bank said proactive provisioning of Rs 250 crore towards Covid-19 related restructuring (Rs 2,500 crore) is expected to be implemented in first quarter of the current fiscal.

Despite elevated slippages, the bank has prudently made accelerated provisioning reflected in the provision coverage ratio for NPA at 79 per cent, resulting in a net loss of Rs 3,788 crore, it said.

The current second wave of Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in the reimposition of localised lockdowns in various parts of the country, YES Bank said, adding the extent to which the pandemic will impact the bank’s results will depend on ongoing as well as future developments, which are highly uncertain.

On March 5, 2020, the Reserve Bank had imposed a moratorium on the troubled private sector lender, including capping withdrawals at Rs 50,000 per depositor, after it found that the new management was unable to raise the urgent core capital which had fallen much below the mandated level.

Later, the Union Cabinet cleared a rescue package for the bank involving a Rs 7,250 crore investment by the State Bank of India (SBI). Four private lenders also committed an additional Rs 3,100 crore as part of the rescue plan.