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— Losses reduced in Greece —
Hellenic Bank Group announced generally satisfactory results on Friday, with profits reduced to a third, marginal increase in expenses and a steady net income for the past year.
Profit before taxation for the year ended 31 December 2010 dropped to EUR 15.3 mln from a pre-tax profit level of 36.1 mln in 2009. However, after-tax profits fell by 67% from EUR 27.2 mln in 2009 to 8.89 mln last year.
The bank said that “based on the conditions prevailing in the financial environment, the strategic targets of the Group during 2011 are focused on the maintenance and improvement of the quality of the loan portfolio, safeguarding the sound liquidity, of the capital adequacy ratios and cautious and rational growth, with the permanent target of profitability.”
Total net income remained at the same levels as last year reaching EUR 268.7 mln compared to 269.6 mln in 2009, while at the same time total expenses rose by 5% reaching to 178.7 mln. As a result, the cost to income ratio increased to 66.5% from 63.1% for the previous year.
The bank increased its provisions for impairment of loans and advances by EUR 11.5 mln to 74.7 mln with total gross customer advances increasing further by 8% to EUR 5.4 bln compared to 5.0 billion in December 2009, while customer deposits increased by 4%, reaching 6.9 bln compared to 6.6 bln in December 2009.
In Greece, the bank reduced its losses to EUR 45.6 mln last year compared to a loss of 61.8 mln in 2009. The improvement of the financial results is mainly due to a decrease in provisions for impairment of loans and advances and said it will “continue with the reorganisation of the branch network in Greece, applying the Cyprus operational model and focusing exclusively on core banking operations.”
The board has decided not to propose the payment of dividend for the year 2010 at the shareholders’ AGM.
The island’s two main lenders, Bank of Cyprus and Marfin Popular Bank, will announced their 4Q 2010 results on Monday, with BOCY expected to show a 22% drop in profits to EUR 66.3 mln, while MPB is expected to show a 87% drop to EUR 4 mln, due to high expenses and high provisions.
