Bper closed the first half of 2017 with nearly doubled net income, at 119,1 million euros. The result, however, is a conditional result – specifies a note from the institute – from relevant non-recurring components, including the write-downs on the portion of the Atlante Fund and on the portion of the contribution to the FITD-SV for CariCesena for a total amount of 61,5 million and the badwill generated by the acquisition of Nuova Carife amounting to 130,7 million. Despite this at the end of the morning the title of Bper gains 4,5% in Piazza Affari, achieving the best increase in the Ftse Mib.
The Bank also communicated that "an extraordinary intervention on provisions is being analysed, to be carried out at the beginning of 2018, for a gross amount in the order of one billion euro, which thanks to the large capital buffer will make it possible to maintain a solid Cet1 ratio above 11%. In order to complete the analyzes relating to this important project, the board of directors has decided to postpone the approval of the new industrial plan to the beginning of 2018".
Going back to the semester numbers, the overall collection amounted to 80,0 billion euro, down by 0,8% from the end of 2016 on a like-for-like basis, with a decrease in direct deposits (-2,4%) and a growth in indirect deposits (+1,7 %); the increase in net inflows under management is equal to 1,2 billion in the half year, more than quadrupled compared to the first half of 2016. Cet1 is equal to 13,38%. Calculated Fully Phased it is at 13,17%, an improvement since the end of the first quarter, despite the consolidation of Nuova Carife.
Il interest margin of Bper at the end of the first half amounted to 570,1 million euros, down by 3,4% compared to the same period a year ago, mainly due to the negative spread effect, despite the presence of a constant decrease in the cost of funding unable, however, as explained in a note, to offset the drop in the return on assets, in particular on active current accounts and loans to businesses.
"The semester closes with the entry into the scope of the banking group of Nuova Carife acquired by the National Resolution Fund on 30 June - commented Alexander Vandelli, managing director of Bper – The operation, which is important from an industrial and financial point of view, will allow us to increase the market shares of loans and deposits with the acquisition of over 100 thousand new customers. On the management front, the half-year confirmed the trend of improvement in the Group's credit quality already highlighted in the first quarter of the year, recording for the fourth consecutive quarter a decrease in the incidence of the stock of doubtful loans, a significant decrease in transfers to credit problem and a significant increase in the rate of return to performing status of anomalous loans, which is associated with a particularly positive performance in the recovery action on non-performing loans carried out by Bper Credit Management, our internal company dedicated to the management of non-performing loans; moreover, this already positive picture is completed by the significant increase in coverage”.
For the foreseeable evolution of management, Bper announces that “the still very low level of market rates and the high level of competition in the system on traditional financing activities will continue to exert pressure on the return on assets, albeit with gradually decreasing intensity; at the same time, the liability repricing actions and the potential benefit of the sweetener deriving from the ECB's Tltr2 program will allow a further reduction in the cost of funding, helping to contain pressure on the interest margin”.
In addition, "a support to revenues is expected from the commission component, with the confirmation of the positive performances, already recorded during the first half-year, in the asset management and bancassurance sector and the stabilization of the component relating to the commercial business".
For management costs, “are expected to further gradually decrease, both in terms of personnel costs and other administrative expenses, benefiting from the effects of the staff reduction plan and the gradual depletion of investments relating to the implementation of the Business Plan projects. Furthermore, it is expected that the slowdown in the current flow of new problematic loans, together with the particularly conservative provisioning policy implemented during the first half, will have positive implications on the ordinary cost of credit in the second half. All of these factors should support the ordinary profitability prospects of the Group for the remaining part of the year”.
