PNB shares hit one-year high; lender becomes third PSU to enter Rs 1 lakh crore m-cap club

Shares of Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Friday rose 2.11 per cent to hit their one-year high level of Rs 91.81. The stock eventually settled 1.48 per cent higher at Rs 91.24. At this price, turnover on the counter came at Rs 38.61 crore, commanding a market capitalisation (m-cap) of Rs 1,00,464.51 crore.

With a market valuation of more than Rs 1 lakh crore, PNB became the third state-owned lender to achieve this feat after State Bank of India (SBI) and Bank of Baroda (BoB).

On BSE, around 42.52 lakh shares changed hands today. The figure was lower than the two-week average volume of 38.61 crore.

As of September 2023, promoters held 73.15 per cent stake in the PSU lender.

The public sector lender reported a 327 per cent year-on-year (YoY) rise in net profit at Rs 1,756 crore for the September quarter (Q2 FY24) as against with Rs 411.27 crore in the corresponding period last year.

Net interest income (NII), the difference between the interest earned from lending activities and the interest paid, rose to Rs 9923 crore in the September quarter of the current fiscal.

Operating profit of PNB climbed 11.66 per cent to Rs 6,216.43 crore in Q2 FY24 against Rs 5,567.21 crore in the year-ago period.

Asset quality of the lender improved in the last quarter. Gross NPAs (non-performing assets) fell to Rs 65,563.12 crore in Q2 FY24 against Rs 87,034.79 crore in the September 2022 quarter.

Gross NPA ratio slipped to 6.96 per cent in Q2 FY24 compared to 10.48 per cent in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

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