November 3 (SeeNews) - BRD [BSE:BRD], Romania's third-largest bank by assets, said on Friday its consolidated net profit in the first nine months of 2017 doubled year-on-year, reaching 1.04 billion lei ($264.4 million/227 million euro).
BRD's net profit grew considerably in the nine months through September, compared to 586 million lei in the corresponding period of last year, fuelled by both dynamic commercial activity and improved risk profile, BRD, part of France's Societe Generale, said in a statement filed with the Bucharest Stock Exchange, BVB.
At the end of September, the ratio of BRD's non-performing loans (NPLs) fell to 7.8% from 10.8% a year earlier, mainly supported by balance sheet cleaning operations through write-offs and sale of non-performing loans.
The coverage of NPLs with provisions improved to 75% in the first nine months, from 74.8% a year earlier.
BRD’s net banking income amounted to 1.96 billion lei in the first nine months of the year, down 2.7% on the year, while net interest income grew 6.6% year-on-year to 1.17 billion lei, driven by solid volume growth.
The bank's loan portfolio increased 7.6% on the year to 29.42 billion lei, underpinned by sound growth on both retail and non-retail segments
Outstanding retail loans were 7.1% higher in the nine months through September. Non-retail outstanding loans increased by 5.6% on the year, driven by loans to large corporate customers.
Deposit inflows remain strong on an annual basis, up 5.2% on the year to 42.8 billion lei, pushed up by retail customers’ savings
The ratio of net loans to deposits stood at 68.7% at the end of September, down 1.6 points on the year.
"The first nine months of 2017 were marked by a dynamic commercial activity, leading to an acceleration of core net banking income growth. Combined with non recurring positive cost of risk items, this evolution translated into a very strong increase of the financial performance. BRD’s broad-based credit growth testifies to the Group’s commitment towards financing the economy," the bank's CEO Francois Bloch said.
BRD's capital adequacy ratio was 18.5% on a standalone basis under Basel III regulations, well above the regulatory requirements of 10%. The bank's total assets fell to 51.58 billion lei at end-September from 50.65 billion lei at end-2016.
Besides the bank, the BRD Group in Romania includes BRD Sogelease IFN, BRD Finance IFN and BRD Asset Management SA.
The overall net profit of the BRD Group in the first nine months of 2017 was 1.065 billion lei, double on an annual comparison basis. The group's total assets fell to 52.95 billion lei as of end-September, from 51.88 billion lei at end-December 2016.
Blue-chip BRD traded 1.64% higher at 12.36 lei by 1030 CET on the BVB.
(1 euro = 4.5981 Romanian lei)
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