Share Market Update on Federal Bank for 1QFY2012

Share Market Update on Federal Bank for 1QFY2012 with a Buy recommendation and a Target Price of `478 (12 months)

For 1QFY2012, Federal Bank recorded net profit growth of 10.8% yoy (down 14.9% qoq), below our estimates, mostly due to higher provisioning expenses than built in by us. Management has attributed the rise in NPAs (slippages at `323cr) during the quarter to one-off employee-related issues, which led to a spurt in slippages in the retail book. Fee income according to management also suffered due to this one-off event. We recommend a Buy rating on the stock.

CASA ratio improves; however, asset-quality woes continue: For 1QFY2011, advances grew by 0.1% qoq to `31,972cr, while deposits declined by 0.2% qoq to `42,936cr. Although total deposits declined during the quarter, the bank was able to sequentially grow its savings and current account deposits by 3.5% and 4.2%, respectively, leading to a 96bp increase in CASA ratio to 27.2%.  Including NRE deposits, total low-cost deposits constituted 32.8% of total deposits. Cost of deposits increased by 103bp qoq, leading to a 13bp qoq decline in reported NIM to 3.9%. Slippages for 1QFY2012 stood at `343cr (annualised 4.0%), driven by higher slippages on the retail (~`140cr) and SME (~`140cr) front. Management has attributed the increase in slippages on the retail side to one-off employee-related issues that cropped up during the quarter, leading to slackness on the recovery front. During 1QFY2012, non-interest income declined by 17.2% qoq (up 6.4% yoy), mainly due to sluggishness in fee-related initiatives and recoveries on the retail side (recoveries were down by 42.6% qoq), as per management.

Outlook and valuation: Post the recent correction, the stock is trading at 1.1x FY2013E ABV. While lower leverage is leading to low RoE at present, the bank’s core RoA is relatively high and should improve further as asset-quality pressures start moderating. We recommend Buy on the stock with a target price of `478.