The group around Slovenia's largest bank, NLB, has reported a net profit of EUR 49.3m for the first three quarters of the year, a significant improvement over the EUR 293.5m loss made only a year ago, as impairments fell by 68% year-on-year to EUR 108.7m.
The bank said the improved results were brought about by a combination of the drop in impairments following the transfer of toxic assets to the bad bank and the broad restructuring efforts undertaken to turn its fortunes around after four loss-making years.
The NLB was part of the massive EUR 3.2bn state-funded bailout of the Slovenian banking sector in December 2013, as part of which it transferred many of its non-performing loans to the Bank Asset Management Company (BAMC).
Impairments and write-offs at the level of the core bank were down by 68% to EUR 84.8% and at group level by the same share to EUR 108.7m through the first three quarters of the year.
The improved results, however, extended beyond the drop in impairments, as group profit before impairments and write-offs was up by 165% to EUR 158.3m. Excluding one-off revenues and costs amounted to EUR 134.1m, a rise of 83% on the same period last year.
Total revenues at the NLB group rose by 26% to EUR 382.9m. The core bank saw an even quicker uptick in revenue, which rose by 35% to EUR 278.6m.
Meanwhile, group costs were down by 8% compared to the first three quarters of last year at EUR 224.7m.
The NLB management board is currently presenting the results at a press conference.
Source: SloveniaTimes
