Uco bank chairman V. Sridhar (left) and executive director S.A. Bhat in Calcutta on Monday. Picture by Kishor Roy Chowdhury

Oct. 30: Uco Bank is planning a follow-on public offer by April-May next year. While announcing the bank’s half-yearly results here today, chairman-cum-managing director V. Sridhar said the offer would be made after the bank finishes its capital restructuring programme that will convert a part of the government’s 74.98 per cent stake in the bank into preference shares and perpetual bonds. The bank currently has a equity capital of Rs 799.36 crore.

Having received board approval for the restructuring, the bank will put forward the proposal to the government. The restructuring will reduce the equity capital and raise the share price, making the scrip attractive to investors.

The bank has reported a 20.51 per cent growth in total business to Rs 97,564 crore in the six months ended September 30, 2006, with deposits growing by 14.02 per cent to Rs 56,800 crore and advances 30.88 per cent to Rs 40,764 crore. However, net profit increased by 13.29 per cent to Rs 162 crore from Rs 143 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Sridhar said higher provisioning of Rs 262 crore, with provisions for non-performing assets of Rs 141 crore, put a leash on profit growth.

A decline in treasury income to Rs 11 crore from Rs 49 crore caused net profit to grow at a slower rate than operating profit which increased 22.37 per cent to Rs 454 crore from Rs 371 crore.

Net interest income increased marginally by 5.97 per cent to Rs 816 crore from Rs 770 crore, with interest income from advances rising 35.64 per cent to Rs 2,527 crore on the back of an 8.66 per cent yield on advances compared with a yield of 8.26 per cent on March 31, 2006 and 8.54 per cent on September 30, 2005.

Nalco net jumps

The National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco) has registered more than two-fold increase in net profit at Rs 595 crore for the quarter ended September 30.

The company has also declared a 50 per cent dividend for 2005-06 against 40 per cent in the previous year. The company’s acting chairman-cum-managing director, C.R. Pradhan, today handed over the final dividend cheque of Rs 168.45 crore (30 per cent) to Union mines minister Sis Ram Ola.