Brief: Romania's BRD group H1 net profit down 47.3% to 414.7 mln lei

BRD Groupe Societe Generale SA

03/08/2020 06:29

Aug 3 (Reuters) - Romanian lender BRD Group Societe Generale
 ROBRD.BX , majority-controlled by France's Societe Generale
 SOGN.PA : 
    * Says its net profit fell 47.3% on the year in the first
half to
414.7 million lei ($101.15 million), driven in part by higher
expenses and negative costs of risk stemming from the new
coronavirus pandemic.
    * Says net lending rose 1.2% on the year, supported by
corporate
financing which rose 5.4% on the year while retail loans started
rebounding in May after a two-month lockdown.
    * Says pandemic drove deposits up 4.8% on the year.
    * Says has a capital adequacy ratio of 27%, while the
non-performing loans ratio (according to EBA definition) stood
at 4.0% in June, compared with 3.8% in June 2019, with 74.5%
covered by provisions.  
    * Says BRD Group's net banking income fell 6.0% on the year
to
1.51 billion lei, due to the decrease in net fees and commission
and other revenues categories.
    * Says net cost of risk turned negative to 225 million lei
versus
144 million lei in the first half of 2019, mainly reflecting a
worsening economic outlook.
    * Says it offered loan postponements to over 44,000 clients.
    * Francois Bloch, CEO: "Considering the significantly
deteriorated
context, BRD delivered an overall resilient financial
performance and continued to  build on solid fundamentals with
strong capital, high liquidity and elevated asset quality."
"The past few months amplified the orientation towards digital
services. We are fully committed to answer to these changing
market expectations and accelerate our digital roadmap."

Further company coverage:  ROBRD.BX 
($1 = 4.1000 lei)

 (Reporting by Luiza Ilie)
 ((luiza.ilie@thomsonreuters.com; +4021 527 0312; https://www.reuters.com/journalists/luiza-ilie))