Alpha Bank 2010 profit seen down 76%

Alpha Bank, Greece's third-biggest lender, is expected to report a 76% drop in full-year 2010 net profits on Tuesday, as a deep recession at home curbed loan growth and led to higher loan-loss provisions.
Eight analysts polled by Reuters on average see Alpha reporting net earnings of 84.6 mln euros ($119 mln), down 76% from 349.8 mln in 2009. Forecasts ranged from 79 to 94.8 mln euros.
A deep economic downturn in Greece, induced by austerity policies to tackle a debt crisis, put the brakes on loan growth and led to a rise in bad debts.
Greek banks also suffered deposit outflows last year and became dependent on the European Central Bank for liquidity as access to interbank funding remained mostly shut because of sovereign debt concerns.
Alpha Bank, which rejected an all-share takeover offer by National Bank in February, is expected to report a 30% increase in provisions to 879 mln euros.
"We expect Q4 net profit of 5.5 mln euros, down from 37.3 mln in Q3, due to weak core profit and increased provisions," said analyst Natasha Roumantzi at Piraeus Securities in a note. "Cost of risk may rise to 190 from 170 basis points in Q3 due to an expected rise in non-performing loan (NPL) formation in Q4 vs Q3."
Alpha, which also operates in Albania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Romania and Serbia, is expected to report a 3.3% rise in net interest income in the full year.
The bank's shares are up 37% this year, outperforming the broader Greek market's 14.6% advance. The stock trades about 22 times estimated 2011 earnings, versus a P/E ratio of 10.7 for its European peers.