November 8 (SeeNews) - BRD [BSE:BRD], Romania's third largest bank by assets, said on Thursday its consolidated net profit rose 8.9% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2018, reaching 1.14 billion lei ($280 million/244 million euro).
"In the first nine months of 2018, BRD Group delivered very strong results, reflecting the positive business momentum and strong operating performance. Growth was driven by volumes’ increase on both retail loans and deposits, intensified transactional activity while the rising usage of remote banking solutions demonstrated the continuous efforts to further enhance our digital offer," BRD Groupe Societe Generale CEO, Francois Bloch, said in an interim financial report filed to the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
As at the end of September 2018, the ratio of BRD's non-performing loans (NPLs) fell to 5.8% from 8.1% a year earlier, mainly supported by balance sheet cleaning operations through write-offs and sales of NPLs.
The coverage of NPLs with provisions was 73.1% as at the end of September, compared to 75% a year earlier.
BRD’s net banking income increased to 2.2 billion lei in the first nine months of 2018, up 12.5% on the year, supported by increased net interest income, higher volumes, stable operating expenses and positive cost of risk.
The bank's loan portfolio expanded by 1.7% on the year to 28.6 billion lei in January-September, sustained, to a large extent, by the strong contribution from individual clients. Customer deposits increased 1.9% year-on-year to 43.6 billion lei as at end-September, mostly driven by household savings. The ratio of net loans to deposits reached 65.6% as at the end of September.
BRD's capital adequacy ratio was 19.4% on a standalone basis under Basel III regulations, well above the regulatory requirements of 10%. The bank's total assets fell to 52.9 billion lei at the end of September from 53.5 billion lei at end-2017.
At the end of September, the bank had 745 branches in Romania serving some 2.5 million customers.
Besides the bank, the BRD Group in Romania comprises 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 2018 was 1.14 billion lei, up by 7.1% year-on-year. The group's total assets decreased to 54.5 billion lei as at end-September, from 54.9 billion lei a year earlier.
In 2017, BRD's consolidated net profit increased 89.5% year-on-year to 1.380 billion lei fuelled by strong core revenue and positive cost of risk.
Blue-chip BRD traded 0.59% lower at 13.5 lei by 0957 CET on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
(1 euro = 4.6617 Romanian lei)
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