(ANSA) - MILAN, 09 MAY - Bper closed the first quarter of the year with a profit of 112.7 million euros, down from 400 million in the same period of 2020, which benefited from some extraordinary accounting components linked to the purchase of branches by Ubi.
Pre-tax profit stands at 158.3 million, up 50% compared to 105.5 million normalized a year ago.
"The results for the quarter show strong growth in profitability, despite the difficult external environment," says Bper.
Revenues increased by 16.6% to 883.7 million, the operating result from 54% to 325.3 million.
"The current market context, characterized by high uncertainty and growing inflationary pressures, presents us with new challenges, which the Bper Group will be able to face effectively thanks to the progress made on the revenue generation front, the solid capital and liquidity position and the significant improvements achieved in terms of credit quality. These aspects will also be further strengthened with the actions and measures envisaged in the new Business Plan which will be presented to the market in June ", declared the CEO, Piero Luigi Montani.
Revenues were mainly driven by commissions, which jumped by 37.3% to 450.6 million, and the interest margin, which grew by 9.6% to 376.4 million, up 2.2% to 558, The costs are also 4 million.
The results compare with a first quarter of 2021 which consolidated the branches of Ubi only starting from 22 February.
As regards the quality of assets, the gross NPE ratio remains at 4.9% and the net one at 2%, unchanged compared to the end of 2021. The capital solidity ratios improve with a fully phased Cet1 pro-forma ratio which rises in the quarter from 13, 5% to 13.64%, "well above" the minimum of the ECB (8.3%) and such as to allow the bank "to face with confidence the uncertainty of the current macro scenario".
(HANDLE).