October 29 (SeeNews) - Romanian investment fund SIF Banat Crisana [BSE:SIF1] said that its net profit rose to 126.5 million lei ($29.5 million/26.6 million euro) in the first nine months of 2019, from 65.4 million lei in the like period of 2018.
The improved result was driven by higher revenues from dividends and gains from investments, the company said in a statement filed with the Bucharest Stock Exchange, BVB, on Monday evening.
Dividend income rose to 105.8 million lei at the end of September, from 97.9 million lei a year earlier.
SIF Banat Crisana posted a net gain on investments of 39 million lei in the period under review, compared to a loss of 20.2 million lei in the first nine months of last year.
The company's net asset value reached 2.57 billion lei at the end of the third quarter 2019, 3.95% below the value recorded as at end-September 2018.
Its assets consist mainly of listed shares (70%), unlisted shares (7%), unlisted non-UCITS securities (13%), corporate bonds (2%), bank deposits and cash available (6%) and receivables and other assets (2%).
As at end-September 2019, the top 5 companies in SIF Banat Crisana's portfolio are Romanian lender Banca Transilvania, where it holds 4.51% interest; Erste Group BAnk AG, where it owns 0.33%; financial group BRD Societe Generale, of which it owns 1.95%; and SIF Imobiliare Plc, of which it owns 99%.
Societatea de Investiții Financiare Banat-Crișana is a Romanian legal entity set up in November 1996 as a joint stock company with entirely private capital, through the reorganization and turn up of Private Ownership Fund I Banat-Crișana. It operates as a closed-end investment company with a diversified investment policy, being licensed, regulated and supervised by the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF).
SIF Banat Crisana shares traded flat at 2.48 lei on the Bucharest Stock Exchange as at 1231 CET on Tuesday.
(1 euro=4.7567 lei)