KBC Group: strong result of 691 million euros in the third quarter
(Thomson Reuters ONE) -
Press Release
Outside trading hours - Regulated information*
Brussels, 16 November (07.00 a.m. CET)
KBC Group: strong result of 691 million euros in the third quarter
Against the background of sustained economic expansion, only moderately rising
inflation, a stronger euro and stable low interest rates, KBC turned in a strong
performance in the third quarter of 2017, posting a net profit of 691 million
euros. In the quarter under review, our core businesses once again performed
well, while costs remained under control and the level of loan loss impairment
remained very low. Moreover, the recently acquired Bulgarian companies also
contributed positively to net profit. Adding the third quarter result to the
similarly very good results for the first two quarters of the year brings the
net result for the first nine months of 2017 to 2 176 million euros,
significantly up on the 1 742 million euros recorded in the corresponding period
of 2016. Our solvency and liquidity positions remained strong too. In line with
our dividend policy, we will pay an interim dividend of 1 euro per share on 17
November 2017.
Financial highlights for the third quarter of 2017
* Both our existing banking and insurance franchises in our core markets
continued to perform well, while the recently acquired Bulgarian companies,
UBB and Interlease, also contributed 14 million euros to the net result. Our
group result for the quarter under review accordingly came to a strong 691
million euros.
* Lending to our clients went up 1% quarter-on-quarter and 6% year-on-year,
with increases in all business units. Deposits from our clients remained
flat quarter-on-quarter, but increased 12% year-on-year with growth in all
business units. Of the year-on-year volume growth, some 1.4 percentage
points (for lending) and 1.9 percentage points (for deposits) was
attributable to the first-time inclusion of UBB/Interlease in the figures.
* Net interest income - our main source of income - was up 1% on the previous
quarter and down just 2% on its year-earlier level, thanks largely to the
positive effect of the first-time consolidation of UBB/Interlease. The net
interest margin came to 1.83%, down 3 basis points quarter-on-quarter and 7
basis points year-on-year.
* Higher premium income, a better reinsurance result and a one-off release of
provisions in Belgium boosted technical income from our non-life insurance
activities by 23% year-on-year. Consequently, our non-life combined ratio
for the first nine months of 2017 ended up at an exceptionally good 83%.
Sales of our life insurance products dropped just slightly quarter-on-
quarter, but were down 10% on their level a year ago.
* Our net fee and commission income remained strong, increasing year-on-year
by 11%, thanks mainly to our asset management activities and the first-time
inclusion of UBB/Interlease in the figures. Compared to the previous
quarter, however, there was a decrease of 5% which partly reflects the
effect of the holiday season.
* All other income items combined fell 34% quarter-on-quarter, but were up
49% year-on-year. This was largely accounted for in both cases by variations
in the level of trading and fair value income and a negative item of 54
million euros in the quarter under review (related to an ongoing industry
wide review of the tracker rate mortgage products originated in Ireland
before 2009).
* Our operating expenses were more or less flat quarter-on-quarter and up 2%
year-on-year. Excluding UBB/Interlease, costs decreased by 2% quarter-on-
quarter, but remained unchanged year-on-year. As a consequence, our
cost/income ratio for the first nine months of 2017 stood at a solid 54%.
* At 15 million euros, loan loss impairment charges in the quarter under
review remained very low. They included a net impairment release of 26
million euros in Ireland and generally low levels of additional impairment
charges in all other core countries. Consequently, our cost of credit
amounted to a very favourable -0.05% in the first nine months of 2017 (a
negative figure indicates a positive impact on profit).
* Our liquidity position remained strong, as did our capital base, with a
common equity ratio of 15.9% (fully loaded, Danish compromise).
Johan Thijs, our group CEO, comments:
'We have delivered yet another strong performance in the third quarter. A number
of factors were instrumental in achieving this, including growth of net interest
income, solid net fee and commission income and a high level of insurance income
thanks in part to some releases of provisions. Moreover, our costs remained
under control, and loan loss impairment charges continued to be very low. On top
of that, our recently acquired Bulgarian entities UBB and Interlease contributed
14 million euros to this quarter's result.
Moreover, the quarterly result was also influenced by an ongoing industry wide
review of the tracker rate mortgage products originated in Ireland before 2009,
for which a negative 54 million euros in this quarter has been booked.
All this resulted in 691 million euros of net profit being posted in the quarter
under review. Combined with the 630 million euros recorded in the first quarter,
and the exceptionally strong 855 million euros in the second quarter, this
brings our net result for the first nine months of 2017 to 2 176 million euros,
up 25% on the figure for the corresponding period of 2016.
We continued to work relentlessly on executing our strategy, which has proven
very successful to date. We are on track as regards our digital agenda, and are
working on further developing our bank-insurance business and on supporting the
local economies and clients in the countries in which we operate. We are ahead
of our agenda on the operational integration of the recently acquired UBB and
Interlease entities in Bulgaria, which will make us a leading player in that
core country too.
We are truly grateful for the trust that our clients place in our company and
our employees, and remain fully committed and focused in our efforts to become
the reference in client-centric bank-insurance in all our core countries.'
Full press release attached.
Press release KBC Group dd 16-11-2017:
http://hugin.info/133947/R/2150142/825271.pdf
3Q2017_Quarterly_Report:
http://hugin.info/133947/R/2150142/825272.pdf
This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: KBC Groep via GlobeNewswire
Unternehmensinformation / Kurzprofil:
Datum: 16.11.2017 - 07:00 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 568403
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contact information:
Town:
Brussels
Kategorie:
Business News
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