The state-owned LIC Housing Finance has posted a 26.70 per cent increase in net profit for the third quarter ended December 31, 2008.

Its profit stood at Rs 134.33 crore in the reporting quarter as compared to Rs 106.02 crore posted in the corresponding quarter last year (December 2007).

The housing finance company has posted a growth of 39.41 per cent in its total income for the three month period, which stood at Rs 765.09 crore from Rs 548.80 crore the previous year.

There was an increase by 18 per cent to Rs 1,944 crore from Rs 1,652 crore the previous year in the home loan disbursals of the company for the quarter.

However, the figure (18%) was lower than the over 35 per cent growth attained during the July-September (2008) quarter when it disbursed Rs 2,159 crore.

The main reason behind the decline in disbursals was the 40 per cent higher interest expenditure incurred during the quarter, which stood at Rs 534.46 crore, as against Rs 381.75 crore during the year-ago period.

Mr. R R Nair, LIC Housing Finance Director and Chief Executive Officer, said, “Last quarter was the most challenging in terms of business environment and cost of funds, hence the disbursals were a touch lower. However, despite this, we have maintained our profit growth due to increased operational efficiency, higher margins and treasury management.”

As far as the operating profit of the company is concerned, it grew by 36.61 per cent to 180.65 crore, from Rs 132.16 crore the previous fiscal.

The company’s net profit for the nine month ended December 31 stood at Rs 374.06 crore, against Rs 269.08 crore for the same period a year ago.

At the Bombay Stock Exchange, the company scrip, on Tuesday (Jan 20) was down by 1.22% to Rs 238. The total volume of shares traded at the BSE was 474139. Current EPS & P/E ratio stood at 54.67 and 4.35 respectively. The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 378 and a low of Rs 151 on BSE.