Axis Bank slumps over 7%; mcap dips Rs 9,119 crore post Q2 result

Mumbai: Shares of Axis Bank Wednesday slumped over 7 percent, wiping out Rs 9,119 crore from its market valuation after the company's September quarter results sparked concerns related to impairments of assests.

The stock plunged 7.36 percent to settle at Rs 482.95 on BSE. During the day, it dropped 8.49 percent to Rs 477.

On NSE, shares of the company declined by 7.45 percent to end at Rs 482.90.

Following the drop in the stock, the company's market valuation fell by Rs 9,119.17 crore to Rs 1,14,842.83 crore.

The stock was the worst performer among the blue-chips on both Sensex and Nifty indices.

On the volume front, 25.79 lakh shares of the company changed hands at BSE and over 3 crore shares were traded at NSE during the day.

"The stock tanked more than 8 percent intra-day on account of slippages data by the bank. Slippages during the quarter stood at Rs 580 crore excluding Rs 1,820 crore worth of assets that the bank sold to Asset Reconstruction Companies (ARC) at 65 percent discount, i.E. A realized value of Rs 650 crore. The fact spooked investor sentiments towards the stock," said Hiren Dhakan, Associate Fund manager, Bonanza Portfolio Ltd.

Private sector lender Axis Bank yesterday reported 18.93 percent increase in net profit at Rs 1,915.64 crore for the second quarter ended September 30.

The bank's net profit in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal stood at Rs 1,610.71 crore.

"Total income has increased to Rs 12,001.01 crore during the quarter under review, from Rs 10,549.97 crore earned a year ago," Axis Bank had said in a regulatory filing.

The asset quality of the bank, however, slipped a tad as gross non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans rose to 1.38 percent of gross advances as of September 2015 as against 1.34 percent a year ago.

Fresh slippages almost halved to Rs 583 crore in the second quarter from Rs 1,185 crore in the first quarter, of which only Rs 90 crore were from restructured book that stood at Rs 8,426 crore.

Slippages during the quarter were optically lower at Rs 580 crore as these did not account for assets worth gross value of Rs 1,820 crore sold to ARCs for realised value of Rs 650 crore, implying 65 percent discount, Edelweiss Financial Services said in a note.

Including these, slippages spiked to 3.6 percent (1.3% run rate). The shortfall was provided for by adjusting Rs 850 crore from floating provisions (residual buffer at Rs 400 crore) and Rs 336 crore of impairment provisions. Given the blip in the second quarter FY16, we expect it to overshoot its annual incremental stress guidance, it added.