BRD SocGen hikes net profit 48% y/y to lei 1.35bn

BRD Societe Generale, the second lender by assets on the Romanian market, ended last year with a net profit of 1.353 billion lei (367.66 million euros), a surge of almost 48 percent on 2007, but the profit only advanced 23 percent if revenues from sale of insurer Asiban are left aside. rnrnBRD announced a gross operating profit of 1.841 billion lei in 2008, up 31 percent on the previous year. rnrnAt a group level, BRD SocGen reported a net consolidated profit of 1.36 billion lei for 2008, a 46 percent boost on 2007. Excluding the revenues from the Asiban transaction, the net consolidated profit only advanced 22 percent to 1.138 billion lei. rnrnThe group’s net profit includes also results from the units BRD Sogelease, BRD Finance and BRD Securities. rnrnThe bank’s assets advanced 26 percent from January to December 2008, from 38.96 billion lei to 49.24 billion lei. rnrnBRD total revenues jumped 78 percent last year to 17.69 billion lei while spendings boosted almost 82 percent year-on-year to 16.07 billion lei. rnrnThe lender’s net banking revenue amounted to 3.199 billion lei in 2008, 27 percent up on the previous year. rnrnBRD SocGen granted credits worth 34 billion lei last year, 27 percent more than in 2007, and 48 percent of those were loans to the population. However, deposits collected last year only inched 6 percent to 28.5 billion lei. rnrnBRD SocGen will continue to report a profit in 2009, declared today president Patrick Gelin, who refused to give an estimate of the gain this year.rn