Vozrozhdenie bank IFRS net profits up 227% at 317 mln rubles in Q1
MOSCOW. May 19 (Interfax) - The Russian bank Vozrozhdenie made 317 million rubles in net profits to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in the first quarter, 227% more year-on-year, bank materials say.
Analysts surveyed by Interfax had predicted the bank's IFRS net profits would total 214 million rubles for the quarter.
The bank's NPL ratio decreased to 8.78% over the quarter from 10.5% at the end of last year, dropping from 12.1 billion rubles to 11.1 billion rubles at the end of March.
Credits likely to produce losses represented 8.3% of overall loans issued (9.8% at end-2010).
The bank's loan-impairment provisions stood at 350 million for the quarter, or 1.2% of the average loan portfolio in annual terms.
The bank set aside 28.6% less in Q1 this year than in the same quarter last year (625 million rubles in Q1 2010), and 117-fold more than in Q4 2010 (3 million rubles.
The bank's net interest margin decreased to 3.2% at the end of Q1 from 3.5% in Q4 last year.
The bank's assets increased 18% year-on-year to 174 billion rubles ($6.1 billion) in Q1.
Vozrozhdenie's equity increased 4.8% to 17.1 billion rubles (to $604 million from $558 million) due to the capitalization of undistributed profits.
Prior to provisioning, the bank's loan portfolio expanded 32% year-on-year to 126 billion rubles, at a rate virtually double that of the banking sector as a whole (16.3%, according to the Central Bank of Russia). The portfolio (prior to provisioning) increased 9.4% over the first three months (2.3% in the banking sector).
That growth was due mainly to corporate lending programs implemented during the quarter. Loans provided to corporate clients were up 10.1%, or by 9.9% billion rubles, of which 6 billion rubles in credits were issued to the bank's key client segment - small and mid-sized businesses.
Corporate loans represented 86.1% of Vozrozhdenie's portfolio, with loans to small and mid-sized businesses representing 52%.
The bank's retail loan portfolio increased 5.2% to 17.5 billion rubles over the reporting period. The credit products most in demand were mortgage loans, the amount of which increased by 7.5% in comparison with the 1.7% increase in consumer and auto loans and credit card usage. At the end of Q1, mortgage loans accounted for 60% of the bank's retail loan portfolio.
Operating expenses increased 17.4% year-on-year to 1.8 billion rubles, while personnel costs rose 22% to 1.1 billion rubles.
The increase in personnel expenses "was driven by tax payment growth to off-budget funds due to changes in tax legislations which came into effect since January 1, 2011. Social tax payments grew by 45.6% compared to Q1 2010, while the salary budget merely exceeded the inflation level and amounted to 10.2%," the bank said.
