August 3 (SeeNews) - Romanian bank BRD [BSE:BRD], part of France's Societe Generale group, said on Wednesday that its first-half net profit fell 1.9% year-on-year, to 617 million lei ($127.6 million/ 125.2 million euro).
BRD registered a solid performance in the first half of 2022, as its gross operating income rose by an annual 13.2% to 785 million lei, the bank said in an unaudited financial report filed with the Bucharest Stock Exchange, BVB.
"Building on a solid commercial activity, BRD Group posted in the first half of the year a robust financial performance. Best ever H1 net banking income was registered, higher by 7.6% versus the same period of 2021, mainly on the substantial growth in interest income, driven by both upward volumes and market rates while very significantly increasing the remuneration for collected deposits, to the benefit of retail and corporate clients. Cost of risk was contained. As a result, BRD delivered a high ROE of almost 16%," BRD CEO Francois Bloch said.
BRD's non-performing loans (NPLs) ratio fell to 2.6% at the end of the first six months of 2022, compared to 3.3% at end-June 2021. The coverage of NPLs with provisions was stable to 77% in the first half of this year. The net cost of risk represented 52 million lei provision charge, versus a 57 million lei release in the same period of 2021, driven by an overall deteriorated macroeconomic environment and outlook, partially offset by important recoveries from non-performing and written-off portfolio.
BRD’s net banking income rose by an annual 9% to 1.59 billion lei in the first half of 2022.
The bank's loan portfolio expanded by 8.9% the year to 34.6 billion lei in the review period, driven by sustained performance on both individuals and large corporate segments. Customer deposits increased 1.1% year-on-year to 53.8 billion lei at the end of June, mostly driven by household savings.
BRD's capital adequacy ratio was 21.9% on a standalone basis under Basel III regulations, well above the regulatory requirements of 10%. The bank's total assets rose to 68.6 billion lei at the end of June from 67 billion lei a year earlier.
At the end of June, the bank had 481 branches in Romania.
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 half of 2022 amounted to 617 million lei, down 1.4% year-on-year. The group's total assets increased to 70 billion lei as of end-June, from 69 billion lei a year earlier.
The bank's net profit rose by 34% to 1.279 billion lei. in 2021, boosted by the dynamic commercial activity and lower costs.
Blue-chip BRD traded 0.45% lower at 13.22 lei by 1353 CET on Wednesday.
(1 euro = 4.9252 Romanian lei)
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