Hellenic Bank records profit of 28.3 m. euro in 2009

The Hellenic Bank Group recorded net profit of 28.3 million euro in 2009, slightly less compared to the 2008 profit totaling 31,3 million euro.
The Group presented its results for 2009 at the Annual General Meeting.
According to a press release issued by the HB, despite the global financial crisis, the Group further improved its capital adequacy index which reached 14% on December 31 2009, compared to 2008's 11%, while it maintained healthy liquidity by improving its portfolio's quality with careful and rational moves.
The Group's profitability was affected by the increase of bad debts provisions as well as the negative results of the Hellenic Bank's operations in Greece.
Both the Group' Board of Directors Chairman Andreas Panagiotou as well as its CEO Makis Keravnos stressed that in a period of recession, the Hellenic Bank succeeded in concluding the financial year with satisfactory profitability, offering dividend to its share holders and improving its qualitative indexes compared to 2008.
Under these circumstances, the Banks Board decided to grant dividend of 0.05 per share.
Total profits for 2009 increased by 11% reaching 269.6 million euro compared with 243.2 million in 2008, whereas total expenditure increased by 7%. As a result, the income/expenses index declined to 63.1% compared to 65.3 in 2008.
In 2009 Hellenic Bank issued 10-year bond worth of 90 million euro, in bid to strengthen its capital base.