SFL posts Rs 170.59 crore net profit

Chennai, May 31: Sundaram Finance Limited (SFL), a leading financial services company has registered a net profit of Rs 170.59 crore for the year ended March 31 this year as against a net profit of Rs 75.99 crore for FY-05 ending March 31 last year.

The net profit for FY-06 included a one time income of Rs 88.13 crore on account of stake sale to BNP Paribas and hence the figures for FY05 and FY06 were not comparable.

Disbursements for FY-06 registered a 20 per cent growth at Rs 3422 crore. Capital Adequacy Ratio at 13.75 per cent as on March 31 this year was well above the statutory requirement of 12 per cent.

The Board of Directors of SFL have recommended a dividend of 135 per cent (including special dividend of 50 per cent) for the year ended 2005-06.

On the market scenario, SFL Managing Director T T Srinivasaraghavan told reporters here today that "With diesel price hike seeming imminent, prospects for the Commercial Vehicle industry would appear to be muted. While there has been a spurt in demand since January 2006, this was largely on account of the Supreme Court ruling on overloading of trucks.'' ''However, we believe that this was in nature of a one time correction and is unlikely to be sustained,'' he added.

UNI