Ceska sporitelna CEO (Erste Bank owns 98% in CS), Jack Stack, said yesterday that CS's 2003 net profit stood at approx. CZK 7bn (EUR 216m), which is slightly above our estimate (EUR 205m). Mr. Stack also said that CS's 2004 net profit should rise by 10-20% y-o-y; we expected it to remain virtually steady this year. Moreover, he assumes that the current retail-lending boom will continue in 2004 (mortgages up by 40%, consumer loans up by 20%, and loans to SMEs should rise by 15%). Source: CTK.
Note that Erste (including CS) is due to release its consolidated IFRS results on March 17, 2004.
Jan Hájek