BANK of Cyprus exceeded expectations yesterday with a 12.1 per cent rise in first half after tax profits, confirming it had fared better than its peer Laiki in a stock market downturn.
The bank, Cyprus’s largest financial group, said after tax profits were £32.4 million, and added it planned an interim dividend of five cents per share, or 10 per cent on stock nominal value, steady from half year 2000.
Analysts had forecast a £25-30 million gain for the bank.
Bank of Cyprus’s pre-tax profits grew to £46.1 million pounds from £43 million in the first half of 2000.
The bank said it was satisfied with the results since they were achieved amid a decline in the Cypriot and Greek stock markets.
“Our forecast was that their losses from investments were not as high as Laiki’s losses,” said Adonis Yiangou of Expresstock.
In its own half-year results on Tuesday, Laiki reported flat operating profits and a dent to its pre-tax and net earnings from a decline in the island’s stock exchange. The market has fallen more than 30 per cent this year.
Bank of Cyprus shares closed unchanged in Nicosia at £2.04, while in Greece it climbed 0.56 per cent to _3.56.
Total assets grew by 11.2 per cent since the start of the year to seven billion pounds.
The bank said that its Greek operations were showing robust growth, with a 50 per cent increase in customer deposits to £1.2 billion by June 30.
But it said that results were burdened by initial set-up costs for a large number of new branches in Greece and the establishment of a new bank in Australia.
The introduction of the euro in Greece at the beginning of 2001 had also affected foreign exchange commissions and dealing profits of the bank’s Greek operations.
The impact from the introduction of the euro, it said, was felt across the Greek banking sector.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
