The operating profit during the six-month period ended September 30, 1998, stood at Rs 167.75 crore, registering a growth of 14.8 per cent over the operating profit of Rs 146.13 crore during the corresponding period in the previous year.

The stock price of Corporation Bank breached the crucial Rs 100 barrier to trade at an intra-day high of Rs 103.10. According to market sources, the results were in line with the market expectations of about Rs 80 net profits. However, in the final countdown, the stock closed at Rs 101, registering a gain of 1.81 per cent on account of profit booking by institutional players at the higher levels.

The total income during the first half of the current financial year stood at Rs 717.51 crore against Rs 546.57 crore during thecorresponding period in the previous year, indicating a rise of 31.3 per cent. The bank's non-interest income increased by 46 per cent to Rs 89.60 crore from Rs 61.46 crore during the first half of 1997-98. A release issued by the bank on Tuesday said that a major contribution to non-interest income has come from cash management products and gold operations.

The credit portfolio during the period ended September 30, 1998, grew by 65 per cent to Rs 4,941 crore from Rs 2,992 crore during the corresponding period in the previous year. The bank managed to bring down its non-performing assets (NPAs) to 2.77 per cent from 2.93 per cent as on March 31, 1998.

The deposits recorded a growth of 49.2 per cent from Rs 7,749 crore as on September 30, 1997, to Rs 11,559 crore during the first half of the current year. The working funds increased to Rs 13,500 crore from Rs 9,254 crore. The return on assets as on September 30, 1998, stood at 1.9 per cent.

Corporation Bank's profit from foreign exchange operations,which stood at Rs 6.13 crore during the period ended September 30, 1997, more than doubled to touch Rs 15.38 crore during the first half of the current financial year. The total turnover from gold trading aggregated Rs 3,083.64 crore and silver trading Rs 438.14 crore during the six months ended September 30, 1998, yielding a net income of Rs 11.04 crore.

The operating expenses during the period increased by 12.9 per cent and stood at Rs 116.51 crore during the first half of the current year compared with Rs 103.20 crore as on September 30, 1997. The bank has said that it has been able to contain the operating expenses as a percentage to average working funds by bringing it down to 2 per cent against 2.4 per cent earlier.

The annualised earnings per share (EPS) works out to Rs 17.79 against Rs 13.91 for year 1997-98, while the book value per share as on September 30, 1998, was Rs 79.68 against Rs 70.75 as on March 31, 1998.

INSIGHT:

Volumes prop bottomline: Volumes have helped greatly inbuoying Corporation Bank's bottomline. Credit has grown by 65 per cent compared with industry growth of around 15 per cent year-on-year for non-food credit. Despite a tightening of spreads, the volume expansion has led to an increase in net profits for Corporation Bank by 25 per cent. What is commendable is that the bank managed to continue earning an above-average return on assets of 1.9 per cent. The bank still maintained one of the lowest net NPA figures in the Indian banking sector. For the first half, the net NPAs have fallen from 2.9 per cent to 2.7 per cent.