Ljubljana, 30 November (STA) - NLB bank posted a group net profit of EUR 158.3m for the first nine months of 2018. While current operations improved, the headline figure is 14% lower than in the same period last year, mostly due to the cancellation of provisions in 2017 that strongly affected profits last year, the bank said on Friday.
Net operating income rose by 1% year-on-year to EUR 369m, as net interest revenue rose 2% while non-interest income was flat. Costs also rose by 1% to EUR 210.4m.
Gross loans grew by 2%.
The bank says its credit portfolio improved compared to last year, as the share of non-performing loans in all loans declined to 7.6% from 11.9% in the same period last year.
The common equity tier 1 ratio, a key benchmark of asset quality, improved to 16.9% from 16.3% in September 2017.
"This is far above the regulatory demands," the bank stressed.
The total assets of the NLB group increased by 6% to EUR 12.78bn. Gross loans were down by 2% while deposits increased by 6%.
NLB said all its subsidiary banks in South-Eastern Europe markets were profitable and accounted for 42% of the group profit before tax.
NLB shares lost 0.18% on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange today half an hour before the close of trading.