Egnatia expects Hellenic profit rebound

Egantia Financial Services have issued a positive forecast on the expected profits of Hellenic Bank, forecasting net gain of CYP 5.2 mln for 2005 compared to net losses of CYP 15.3 mln booked in 2004. The Board of Hellenic is due to release its preliminary 2005 results on February 24.

Specifically, Egnatia expect total operating incomes for FY05 to advance by 12.9% YoY to CYP

89.4 mln due to higher NII amid the solid expansion of the Group’s loan and advances portfolio especially in Greece coupled with the increase in HB’s income from foreign dealing operations.

NII is seen at CYP 35.6 mln (+4.9% YoY) despite the reduction in NIMs due to the -125bps reduction in interest rates.

Egnatia anticipate total operating expenses to reach CYP 84.3 mln, up by 11.9% YoY. This is attributed to an increase in the local payroll budget amid higher provisions for staff retirement, golden handshakes for departing executives and higher number of employees in Greece. Consequently the Group cost to income ratio is expected to deteriorate to 73.4% from 68.7% in FY04.

Core profits are expected to decrease to CYP 30.5 mln in FY05 compared to CYP 34.4 mln in FY04.

Loan loss provisions are expected to decline significantly by 45.9% YoY to CYP 24.6 mln amid the positive contribution of amounts recovered.

At the bottom line, Egnatis anticipate Net Profit to reach CYP 5.2 mln, compared to a Net loss of CYP

-15.3m in FY04 In another development, the Bank announced that its Annual General Meeting for FY05 will be held on 31 May 2006.