Eurobank 9M net falls short of target
Eurobank, Greece’s third-largest lender based on market capitalization, reported yesterday a lower-than-expected 4.6 percent rise in nine-month net profit. The bank said net profit hit 647 million euros, from 618 million euros in the same period a year earlier. Analysts had been anticipating the figure to come in at around 650 million euros. «Despite adverse conditions in the global banking and financial sectors that hit the group’s income from trading activities, asset management and brokerage business… net profit after tax and minorities grew by 4.6 percent,» it said in a statement. The group, which also operates in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Romania, Serbia, Poland, Turkey and Ukraine, said nine-month net interest income grew 23.1 percent to 1.77 billion euros with net interest margin steady at 3.2 percent. It said performance in «New Europe» was particularly strong as net profit from the region more than tripled to 135 million euros from 42 million in the same period last year. Customer deposits grew 42.5 percent to 46.1 billion, leading to a drop in the bank’s loans-to-deposits ratio to 119.9 percent from 130.1 percent. Shares in Eurobank, which has a market capitalization of 4.4 billion euros, rose 3.6 percent yesterday to 8.50 euros. The nine-month figures were made public after the close of trade on the Athens bourse.
