Vijaya Bank share price rises over 9% despite 25% decline in Q2FY19; Guess what! Mega merger looks really promising

Vijaya Bank share price has been making some interesting moves today and it even managed to  soar a whopping 9% despite reporting a weak September 2018 (Q2FY19) earnings. Vijaya Bank posted a net profit of Rs 139.94 crore declining by 25.54% compared to Rs 185.46 crore in the corresponding period of previous year. Q2FY19 net profit also tumbled, however, gradually by 3.04% as against Rs 144.34 crore witnessed in Q1FY19.

On the other hand, Vijaya Bank Q2FY19 net interest income (NII) stood at Rs 1,165.52 crore which was up by 15.58% from Rs 1,008.40 crore witnessed in Q2FY18. However, the NII tumbled by 3.41% as against Rs 1,206.72 crore in Q1FY19. 

Meanwhile, the bank's provisions were at Rs 588.64 crore in Q2FY19 which soared by 28.49% versus Rs 458.12 crore in Q2FY18, however, was down by 10.72% from Rs 659.38 crore in Q1FY19. 

Moreover, gross NPAs were at Rs 7,557.01 crore in Q2FY19, which increased by 13.66% as against Rs 6,648.63 crore in Q2FY18. The latest gross NPA declined sequentially by 0.29% from Rs 7,579.11 crore in Q1FY19. 

In percentage terms, gross NPA of Vijaya Bank was surprisingly very good as it stood at 5.86% in Q2FY19, down by 7.09% in Q2FY18 and 6.19% in Q1FY19. 

For six months period, Vijaya's net profit was at Rs 284.28 crore decreasing massively by 35.41% from Rs 440.15 crore in the same period a year ago. Interestingly, the bank's NII which was at Rs 2,372.24 crore rose by 21.53% versus Rs 1,951.90 crore a year ago same period. 

At around 14:33 hours, the share price of Vijaya Bank was trading at Rs 43.55 per piece up by 7.27% on Sensex. However, it has touched an intraday high of Rs 44.40 per piece resulting in overall 9.35% gain so far on the index. 

Vijaya is among the banks that will soon be merged with the much larger state-owned lender Bank of Baroda, along with Dena Bank. 

Vijaya Bank has been stable in terms of gross NPA, and its further deceleration in the stressed assets makes the government's mega trio merger even more promising.