The shareholders also delivered a favourable opinion on the work of the Management and the Supervisory Board in the previous year and gave a discharge to both of them. Aleš Krisper was appointed as an alternate member of the Supervisory Board of Nova KBM d.d.
The shareholders were acquainted with the 2009 Annual Report of the Nova KBM Group and Nova KBM d.d. In addition, they were informed of the 2009 Report on Internal Audit together with the opinion of the Supervisory Board, the 2009 Annual Report of the Nova KBM Group and Nova KBM d.d. together with the auditor's report, and the Report of the Supervisory Board on verification of the 2009 Annual Report of the Nova KBM Group and Nova KBM d.d. The report on operations of the Nova KBM Group for the first six months of 2010 is expected to be published on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange website on 25 August 2010.
The Shareholders' Meeting adopted a resolution on allocating the entire 2009 profit available for distribution (balance sheet profit) in the amount of €2,884,856.73 (the amount of net profit which remained after creating regulatory, statutory and other reserves from profit) to other reserves from profit. By allocating the profit available for distribution to other reserves from profit, the Management and the Supervisory Board aim to strengthen the capital base of the Bank and enhance its soundness, thus generating increased value for shareholders. At the same time, the Management and the Supervisory Board took into consideration the anticipated changes in financial regulation that will already in 2010 put significantly greater emphasis on more qualitative components of capital, such as retained earnings.
The Shareholders' Meeting was informed of the resignation of Marko Jazbec, the incumbent Supervisory Board member, and appointed Aleš Krisper as an alternate Supervisory Board member. Mr. Krisper has a PhD in economic sciences, MSc in organisational sciences and a university degree in electrical engineering. He is an independent international adviser participating in EU, CARDS and World Bank projects. His term of office started as of today and will last until 14 July 2012.
The shareholders were also informed of the remuneration of members of the Management Board, the Supervisory Board and Supervisory Board committees in 2009, and appointed Ernst & Young d.o.o., Ljubljana, for the audit of the 2010 financial statements of the Bank and the Group.
Matjaž Kovačič, President of the Nova KBM’s Management Board, presented to shareholders operating results of the Bank and the Nova KBM Group for the first quarter of 2010. The results of the Nova KBM Group for the period from January through March were above the projection. Compared to the same period of last year, the Group's net profit increased by 4.5 times. The Nova KBM Group's pre-tax profit from continuing operations was €14,726 thousand in the first quarter of 2010, which is 6.75 times the amount reported for the same period of last year and 35% of the projection for 2010 as a whole. Higher than projected net interest income and fee and commission income, as well as lower administration costs, contributed most to the good result in the first quarter. »Results reported for the first quarter continue the trend of the Bank's and the Group's good performance from the previous year, when we proved our capability to deliver profitable performance and create additional value for our shareholders, notwithstanding the worst economic crisis in the last fifty years. Our plans for 2010 remain justifiably ambitious: the total assets of the Nova KBM Group are projected to increase by 2.9 per cent, the Group's 2010 pre-tax profit from continuing operations is projected at €41.7 million and the net profit at €34.8 million« said Matjaž Kovačič.
Danilo Toplek, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, presented the work of the Supervisory Board during 2009. He pointed out: »The cooperation between the Management and the Supervisory Board is constructive and running smoothly. The Bank is led by an experienced and professional team of senior managers and I hope this cooperation will remain the same also in the future. A number of decisions drafted by the Management Board were adopted last year, and we believe these decisions will strongly affect the future development and performance of both the Bank and the Group. Among others, we supported the capital entry of Nova KBM into the Serbian Credy banka. We expect this decision to be of key importance in consolidating the Bank’s position in foreign markets.«
