BPH-PBK Q1 net results expected 13% up on last year

The first-quarter net profit of the country's third-largest bank BPH-PBK is likely to rise on smaller bad debt charges, even as weak economic growth hurts revenues, a poll of ten analysts showed yesterday. BPH-PBK, a unit of Germany's HVB Group, is expected to show net earnings of zł. 70 million when it unveils its January-March figures early on Thursday, up 13% from the same period last year. The bottom-line figure does not include an estimated zł. 30 million one-off net gain from the sale of a stake in debit and credit card service company PolCard, agreed in February and approved by the Consumer and Competition Protection Office (UOKiK) on Monday. "We are likely to see a higher net profit, mainly thanks to lower provisions, but we are not expecting revenue growth due to weak demand for loans and shrinking interest margins," said Andrzej Nowaczek, a banking analyst at investment bank Credit Suisse First Boston in London. (Reuters) M.M.