BCR posted 90 million euros in net profit four months into the year, an increase of some 20% compared to the same period in 2005. Assets overshot the 11 billion-euro mark, Nicolae Danila, the bank''s executive president told ZIARUL FINANCIAR.
"We continue to pursue our optimistic growth targets, although the market is getting increasingly more distorted by the players operating at uncompetitive costs in a bid to grab one percent of market share no matter what," Danila says. He adds the environment is becoming more and more difficult as interest spreads are compressing.
Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR) did not reveal first quarter figures. When it published its own results, Erste Bank, its future majority shareholder only specified that the situation of non-performing loans was " slightly better" than anticipated after the due diligence. Under the circumstances, a recent analysis of the Raiffeisen Centrobank states that one-off provisions worth 100 million euros initially considered for covering the potential problem loans might turn out to be "too conservative."
If the transaction for the takeover of the controlling interests in BCR is concluded by the end of June, Raiffeisen analysts estimate BCR will contribute 12 million euros to Erste Bank''s operating revenue this year, while its contribution to the profit of the Austrian group will be of only 5 million euros. After all, the worst-case scenario considered by Erste sees BCR making zero contribution to this year''s profit with the bank paying its restructuring costs and the costs pertaining to the integration into the group by itself.
The same Raiffeisen study forecasts 434 million euro profit for BCR in 2008, and 606 million euros in 2009.
Relying on the largest network of branches after CEC, BCR is the first bank on the market whose assets have exceeded 10 billion euros.
It is thus maintaining far ahead of the second leading player, BRD-SocGen, whose assets stood at 5.74 billion euros at the end of the first quarter, an increase of only 10% from the same time last year. BCR''s assets rose by some 60% during the same interval.
Increasingly difficult market conditions translated into slower growth or even profit and asset declines for many of the top 10 banks in the first quarter of this year.
BRD''s profit for instance went up by only 7.4% in euros from the same time in 2005, to 42 million euros, while Bancpost''s profit fell to less than one third compared with the corresponding period of last year, to 2.4 million euros.
An exception to this is the performance of Banca Transilvania, whose profit increased by about 37% to 7.7 million euros, while assets increased by over 6% to 1.5 billion euros.
Compared with the end of 2005, Raiffeisen and HVB-Tiriac witnessed slight asset declines, which probably translated in erosion of market shares.
Converted in RON, the cumulated profit of HVB-Tiriac amounted to 53 million RON (15.1 million euros), 23% higher than made by HVB in the first quarter of 2005.
razvan.voican@zf.ro
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