Union Bank Shares Rise Over 5% As Q4 Profit Beats Estimates

The shares of Union Bank of India rose over 5% on Friday after the company posted a rise in its standalone net profit in the fourth quarter of financial year 2024-25.

The public sector bank reported a 50.6% year-on-year jump in the net profit to Rs 4,985 crore for the January–March quarter, up from Rs 3,310 crore a year earlier, according to a filing with the stock exchange on Thursday. The figure comfortably exceeded Bloomberg’s consensus estimate of Rs 4,320.6 crore.

Net interest income rose marginally by 1% year-on-year to Rs 9,514 crore, compared with Rs 9,437 crore in the same period last year, and also came in ahead of the Bloomberg forecast of Rs 9,373 crore.

The lender saw an improvement in asset quality on a sequential basis. The gross non-performing assets ratio declined to 3.6% from 3.85% in the previous quarter, while the net NPA ratio eased to 0.63% from 0.82%.

Operating profit grew strongly, rising 17.9% to Rs 7,700 crore from Rs 6,533 crore a year ago.

Provisions rose 22.6% year-on-year to Rs 1,544 crore, compared to Rs 1,260 crore in the same quarter last year. However, provisions were down 3.4% quarter-on-quarter from Rs 1,599 crore.

The bank’s board has recommended a dividend of Rs 4.75 per equity share for financial year 2025, subject to requisite statutory and shareholder approvals at the upcoming annual general meeting. The record date for dividend eligibility will be announced in due course.

The shares of Union Bank rose as much as 5.30% to Rs 121.70 apiece, the highest level since May 7. It pared gains to trade 3.68% higher at Rs 119.83 apiece as of 10:08 a.m. This compares to a 1.19% decline in the NSE Nifty 50 Index.

The stock has fallen 1.09% on a year-to-date basis and 16.22% in the last 12 months. Total traded volume so far in the day stood at 15.99 times its 30-day average. The relative strength index was at 41.73.