Bank of India hit its 52-week high of Rs 51.75 in early trades today as a block deal of 6.20 lakh shares was concluded on the counter.

Subsequently, the  scrip of the large public sector bank eased to Rs 51.30, still higher by 6.54% over its previous close. Substantial volumes of over 21.36 lakh shares were recorded on BSE by 10:36 IST.

The block deal was placed early morning at Rs 49.90 per share. But the market is still unaware about which entities were party to the deal . Some are conjecturing that the deal took place between Indian domestic institutions.

The scrip has now risen 23.5% from Rs 41.55 on 20 May 2003. The current clime is highly rewarding for banking stocks as banks are generally expected to do well in the current year.

For Q4 ended 31 March 2003, BoI recorded a massive rise in net profit to Rs 282.53 crore compared to Rs 90.41 crore in the corresponding period last year. Total income rose by 15.7% to Rs 2,155.31 crore from Rs 1,862.26 crore in MQ 2002. For FY 2002-03, the bank posted a 68.5% rise in net profit to Rs 851 crore (Rs 505.22 crore) on a 13% increase in total income to Rs 7,570.59 crore (Rs 6,711.95 crore).

One encouraging factor is that BoI has surpassed its own full year net profit guidance of Rs 700 crore.

BoI continues its thrust on resource mobilisation and non-performing assets (NPA) reduction. The bank has a total of 2,555 branches, comprising 2,535 Indian branches and 20 overseas branches .

The bank is increasingly leveraging technology to expand its delivery channels and to offer cost effective services to its vast cross-section of customers. 2,156 branches out of the total 2,535 Indian branches have been computerised, constituting about 91% of the bank's domestic business.

On an equity of Rs 488.58 crore, and a net profit of Rs 851 crore for FY 2002-03, the earning per share (EPS) works ut to be 17.4, while the price to earnings (P/E) ratio works out to 2.94.