Bank of Cyprus expectslower first-quarter profits

BANK of Cyprus said yesterday it expected to report lower first-quarter profits next month, but forecast an improvement in the second half of the year.

The bank said its results had been hit by the weakness in the world economy in the wake of the September 11 attacks in the US but said the first quarter was not an indication of what to expect for the full year.

“We expect the results of the second half of 2002 to be better than those of the corresponding period of 2001, which was affected by negative factors,” it said.

Chairman Solon Triantafyllides told shareholders at a general meeting yesterday that the bank’s stock would soon be included in the Athens bourse’s general index.

“We expect this to happen in one to two months,” he said.

The company will report first quarter results on May 22.

The AGM approved the payment of a final dividend for 2001 to shareholders of £0.08 per share, in addition to the interim dividend of £0.05 per share, already paid out.

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.