Hellenic Bank Pcl (HB) beat market expectations by tripling its profits for the nine month period ending September 2007, with net profit surging to EUR 104.1 mln or CYP 60.8 mln for a 201% year-on-year increase compared to EUR 34.56 mln a year ago in 2006.
Net interest income surged to EUR 154 mln in 9M07 from EUR 116.5 mln in 9M06, while income from commissions, fx and revaluation of investments reached EUR 81.5 mln from EUR 61.2 mln a year ago in the same period.
Total income increased 33.2% YoY to EUR 235.57 mln from EUR 177.77 mln.
Total costs on the other hand remained under tight control in line with HB CEO Makis Keravnos’ strategy of boosting revenue while keeping costs under check as he pushes ahead for a dramatic reduction in the Bank’s cost to income ratio and a sharp increase in profitability. The cost to income ratio fell to 49.4%.
Total costs increased by 4.5% YoY to EUR 116.47 mln in 9M07 from EUR 111.46 mln in 9M06. Results were further helped by EUR 1.55 mln share of profit from Athena Cyprus Investment Co. (9M06: EUR 2.8 mln) and EUR 8.6 mln in profit from sale and revaluation of investments (9M06: EUR 2.9 mln).
Core profits increased 79% to EUR 129.25 mln from EUR 72.05 mln a year ago in the same period. In line with the improvement in the loan quality of the Bank and recoveries, Hellenic Bank sharply reduced its provision for doubtful debt charge to EUR 10.78 mln in 9M07, down 63% YoY from the provision charge of EUR 29.19 mln made a year ago in the same period.
Earnings per share amounted to 39.7 euro cent from 14.5 euro cents a year ago.
In the third quarter, HB reported net profit of EUR 33.81 mln compared to EUR 8.39 mln in 3Q06.
Total advances increased 21% YoY to EUR 3.9 bln from EUR 3.2 bln before, while customer deposits increased 17% YoY to EUR 6 bln compared to EUR 5.2 bln previously.
Shareholders funds improved by 24% to EUR 451.2 mln from EUR 363.8 mln end of December 2006.
The Hellenic Bank Group reported that its
In view of the excellent results, the Board of Directors revised its target for 2007 with respect to Return on Equity (ROE) to 29.1% from 25.1% previously and the cost to income ratio from 52.9% to 50.3%.The new Strategic Plan for 2008-2010 will be released when the preliminary 2007 results are announced in February 2008.
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