Although it revealed a rising profit in the first half, Banca Transilvania could not stop its shares from going down on Tuesday. It posted 111.4m-RON (30.3m-euro) net profit, 40% higher than in the same time last year. Impact on the Stock Exchange: shares were down 1.5%, though they did rebound by 3.63% on Wednesday.
"The trend of shares proves how illogical the market is being now. The fact that figures were published so soon points to a certain despair of the bank's management, after the stock has declined considerably lately. They wanted to show everything is going well," says Adriana Marin, an analyst with UniCredit CA-IB Securities.
According to analysts, the reported figures are showing the first signs of the growth slowdown the bank has witnessed in recent years. "Unfortunately, the only relevant figure of the profit and loss account revealed was the profit. One can notice a slowdown, both in terms of profit and loans, but, more alarming, in terms of deposits, too," says Alexandru Combei, an analyst with Raiffeisen Capital & Investment.
The bank's net income rose by 28% in RON in Q2, to 62.1m RON (17m euros), compared with a 58% increase in Q1. In euros, income advanced by 13% in Q2. Analysts also say the published figures do not show the trend of risk costs, which are expected to soar.
"Banca Transilvania opened 41 new branches in the first half of the year, reaching 496 branches, the third biggest network among the private commercial banks of Romania, with this being, however, a considerable amount of fixed costs, given the slower lending growth. We expect revenue growth to slow down in the second half of 2008, in line with the market," explains Florin Ilie, head of the capital markets department of ING.
TLV posted a 21% advance in its loan portfolio in H1, compared with an 18% market increase. According to analysts, the banking
