PKO BP posts higher than planned first-half profit
By : Reuters
State-owned savings giant Powszechna Kasa Oszczednosci Bank Polski (PKO BP), Eastern Europe's largest bank by assets, netted zl. 516 million ($122.8 million) in the first six months of the year, roughly half its full-year forecast of zl. 1.1 billion ($261 million).
The bank, whose net profit exceeded zl. 630 million ($143.2 million) last year, gave no comparable figures for the same period of 2000. "PKO BP achieved good financial results in the first half of the year," the bank stated last Friday. "Our net profit stood at zl. 515.5 million ($122.7 million) in the first six months, which was nearly 16% higher than planned."
PKO BP, the last major bank still wholly state owned in the region, said its total assets topped zl. 82 billion ($19.5 billion) at the end of June and its capital adequacy ratio a key measure of lending capacity was at 10.1% against the required 8%.
The bank said its interest revenue rose annually 20% to zl. 5.4 billion ($1.3 billion) while profit on banking activity stood at zl. 2.6 billion ($619 million) in the first half of the year, up 26% from the same period of 2000.
Poland plans to float 30% in PKO BP, which has a third of the country's consumer deposits. The government wants to retain the bank's Polish identity by maintaining at least 50% plus one share and by selling shares only to Polish residents.
The politically sensitive privatization of the communist-era flagship bank has been delayed several times and analysts say the final shape will likely be settled by the opposition Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), tipped to win September's parliamentary elections.
PKO BP's biggest rival on the local financial market, Bank Pekao, which plans to increase its net profit by 64% to a record zl. 1.25 billion ($297 million) this year, is due to release its unconsolidated first-half results early next month. Pekao, a unit of UniCredito Italiano, is Poland's largest listed bank with total assets exceeding zl. 71 billion ($16.9 billion) at the end of the first quarter of the year.
