The supervisors were also informed of the progress being made in the sale of Zavarovalnica Maribor and of other activities aimed at enhancing the Bank’s capital position, which are all carried out according to the schedule. Upon the release of the Bank’s preliminary results for the first three quarters of the year, Aleš Hauc, President of Nova KBM’s Management Board, pointed out: »The Bank’s loan portfolio is being cleansed and intensively restructured, and we expect it to be completely consolidated within two years. For 2012 as a whole, we plan to generate a profit before provisions and impairment losses, which again will be a positive sign to our shareholders and other stakeholders that the Bank is performing well and is ready to deal with future challenges«.
The operations of Nova KBM are still heavily impacted by the adverse economic conditions, which have caused many of its customers to be confronted with financial difficulties. In spite of the deteriorating conditions, in the period from January to September the Bank generated a profit from continuing operations before provisions and impairment losses of €30.4 million. The Bank’s results continued to be adversely affected by high loan loss provisions, which amounted to €131.5 million in the first nine months of the year.
At the end of September, the Bank’s total assets amounted to slightly over €4.5 billion, a decrease of 4.9 percent from the beginning of the year, with its market share remaining flat at 9.8 percent. The Bank’s market share in loans and advances to customers went down by 0.4 percentage points to reach 9.7 percent at the end of September, mainly as a result of lower demand due to deteriorating social conditions and customers’ orientation towards savings. The Bank’s market share in deposits from customers remained flat at 12.5 percent.
The Bank’s total equity was €283.6 million at the end of September, with its total capital adequacy ratio standing at 8.79 percent. With respect to the Bank’s capital position, Peter Kukovica, Chairman of Nova KBM’s Supervisory Board, said: »The Management Board is successfully implementing measures to enhance the Bank’s capital position and to increase its Core Tier I capital ratio. The activities in this regard are being carried out according to the plan, and the Supervisory Board expects the Bank’s capital adequacy to reach 9 percent by the end of the year. This will enable the Bank to strengthen its position in the capital and financial markets«.
