THE Laiki Group said yesterday its pre-tax profit fell to £2.09 million in 2001 from £69.13 million in 2000, hit by poorly performing Cypriot and Greek stock markets.
Preliminary 2001 accounts showed the group flipped to a loss after tax of £13.04 million last year from a £45.17 million pound after tax gain in 2000, which was boosted by the spin-off of Laiki Investments.
Laiki, which offers banking, finance and insurance services, is 22 per cent owned by Britain’s HSBC bank.
Last year’s results were depressed by a £40.64 million loss on disposal and revaluation of securities and a 34.5 per cent increase in bad debt provisioning to £17.7 million.
Operating profits before the investment revaluation declined to £60.5 million from £82.9 million in 2000.
The group, Cyprus’ second largest domestic bank, said its profits were affected by a slowdown on the Athens and Nicosia stock exchanges, less new business for its insurance divisions and a decline in revenue from foreign exchange activity due to the introduction of the euro.
A jump in provisioning was largely generated in its Cypriot operations. “The Cypriot economy has been affected considerably by the events of September 11 and the negative performance of the bourse,” the group said in a statement.
Laiki has units in Greece, Britain, Australia and representative offices in South Africa and Canada. It expanded into electronic banking in the past year.
It would propose a final dividend of 3 cents per share in addition to the interim dividend of five cents, or 16 per cent, up from 14 per cent in 2000.
The group said it planned to introduce a dividend reinvestment scheme this year offering shares at a discount of 10 per cent.
Laiki shares closed two cents higher to £1.27 on the Cyprus stock market yesterday.
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.
