Erste Bank Group posted consolidated Q1 2003 IAS net profit of EUR 75.8 mil., which was in line with our expectation of EUR 75 mil. for EB Group (and slightly below market consensus of EUR 78.8 mil.). Erste Bank’s results at the operating level were roughly in line with market consensus. Operating revenues of EUR 906.6 mil. lagged insignificantly behind market expectation (EUR 908.3 mil.). Provisioning in Q1 stood at EUR 97 mil., which was lower than expected (EUR 104 mil.), despite unfavorable economic development on the Austrian market.
Rather weak results of Austrian savings banks that are consolidated into the Group solely due to their membership in the cross guarantee system (a loss of EUR 5.4 mil.) were offset by strong profitability of Ceska sporitelna, Erste’s Czech 98%-owned subsidiary. While its profit before provisions stood 2% above our estimate, net profit exceeded our estimate by more than 27% due to the net release of provisions (we have expected their light creation). Slovenska sporitelna, Erste’s Slovak 67%-owned subsidiary, also posted better-than-expected results.
Overall, we consider the results as neutral. A teleconference on the results is to be held at 3.30 p.m. CET.
|
IAS consol.* |
Q1 2003 |
Q1 2002 |
Change |
Q1 2003e |
|
(EUR mil.) |
|
|
|
|
|
Net interest income |
618 |
585 |
+5.6% |
618 |
|
Operating revenues |
907 |
880 |
+3.1% |
908 |
|
Operating expenses |
605 |
570 |
+6.2% |
- |
|
Operating result |
302 |
310 |
-2.6% |
- |
|
Other results (+/-) |
-18 |
-48 |
-61.8% |
- |
|
Profit before provisions |
283 |
262 |
+8.1% |
- |
|
Provisions |
97 |
89 |
+9.1% |
104 |
|
Pretax profit |
186 |
173 |
+7.6% |
- |
|
Net profit |
76 |
66 |
+15.0% |
79 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
EPS (EUR) |
1.27 |
1.10 |
|
1.32 |
* “Erste Bank Group” figures include Austrian savings banks that are not owned by Erste, but are consolidated into the Group due to their membership in the cross guarantee system
Jan Hajek