HUF 194.7 Billion Q1 After Tax Profit at OTP

Hungary’s OTP Group posted a better-than-expected consolidated profit after tax of HUF 194.7 billion in the first quarter, compared to a profit of HUF 115.1 billion in the previous quarter and a loss of HUF 33.4 billion a year earlier.

OTP Bank Plc. announced on the Budapest Stock Exchange (BSE) website on Wednesday that the significant improvement of 69% in the banking group's profit on a quarterly basis is attributed to a positive balance of adjustment items, low risk costs and the consolidation of NKBM in Slovenia.

Analysts had expected the financial institution's consolidated profit after tax to be HUF 171.4 billion and consolidated adjusted profit after tax to be HUF 167.9 billion in the first quarter of the year.

The report showed a consolidated adjusted profit after tax of HUF 187.1 billion, an improvement of 22% on a quarterly basis and 111% on an annual basis.

The financial institution's balance sheet total grew to HUF 36,175 billion in January-March this year, an increase of 10% on a quarterly basis and 26% on an annual basis.

Operating profit improved by 4% on a quarterly basis and by 21% on an annual basis to HUF 231.8 billion in the first quarter. Within this, revenues rose by 1% on a quarterly basis and by 27% on an annual basis to HUF 457.1 billion; operating expenses amounted to HUF 225.2 billion, down 1% on the previous quarter and up 32% on a year earlier.

Risk costs totalled HUF 9.1 billion in the first quarter, compared with HUF 41.7 billion in October-December and HUF 72.8 billion in the same period last year.

Among the foreign subsidiary banks, the Serbian and Croatian performance grew the most dynamically, while the Bulgarian operation performed weaker due to the lump-sum payment of supervisory fees.