Komerční banka’s net profit rose by 56 percent to CZK 12.7 billion last year. Total revenues improved by 5.7 percent to CZK 31.3 billion. Total operating expenses increased by 0.7 percent to CZK 15.1 billion. The Board of Directors proposes a dividend of CZK 43.80 per share in the total amount of CZK 8.3 billion. It will consider further steps to release the excess capital that the bank has retained due to pandemic dividend cuts in 2020 and 2021 in the second half of this year, following the completion of regular regulatory stress tests. The bank, which is majority owned by France’s Société Générale, announced its unaudited consolidated financial results.
“We have seen a very solid increase in our client business, which has also supported revenue growth. Despite rapid inflation and increased regulatory fees, we have kept operating expenses stable. The risk profile of the loan portfolio remains very strong, even though the current environment is challenging for many companies,” said Jan Juchelka, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of KB.
All types of revenues contributed to the increase in total revenues. Net interest income increased by two percent to CZK 21.8 billion, due to the growth in the volume of loans and deposits, and later in the year also due to normalizing market interest rates. Net fees and commissions rose by 9.6 percent to CZK 5.7 billion, which, according to the bank, is due to higher transaction activity of clients, growth of clients’ investments in mutual funds or corporate demand for services on the capital markets and consulting. The net result from financial operations of CZK 3.6 billion was up 25.9 percent year-on-year.
“Operating costs remained under strict control, despite faster inflation and higher regulatory fees, mainly to the Resolution Fund,” the bank said. Personnel costs decreased slightly and administrative costs remained almost the same. The average number of employees decreased by 4.6 percent to 7687. Depreciation and amortization increased year-on-year in connection with investments in digitization, partly due to a shrinking building portfolio.
Loans to clients last year rose by 6.9 percent to CZK 738.9 billion. Of this, the volume of housing loans provided by KB and Modrá pyramida increased by 9.5 percent. Consumer loans provided by KB and ESSOX added 1.9 percent. The volume of loans to enterprises and other entities was five percent higher year-on-year. Client deposits rose by 6.2 percent year on year to CZK 948.6 billion.
Total equity increased by 8.3 percent year on year to CZK 126.8 billion due to the generated profit and limited dividend payments due to CNB measures. The bank said today that the board intends to return to a dividend policy of paying 60 to 70 percent of the previous year’s profit, which was suspended in accordance with restrictions imposed by the regulator on all Czech banks in March 2020 following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. For 2022, the Board of Directors approved a dividend policy of 65 percent of the consolidated net profit attributable to KB shareholders, which will be generated in 2022. “Given the partial dividend payment at the end of 2021 of CZK 23.86 per share, we estimate distribution in the form of a dividend of up to CZK 55 per share, which with a planned dividend of CZK 43.80 would amount to almost CZK 100, a dividend this year,” said Jiří Kostka from Fio banka.
At the end of last year, Komerční banka had 58,444 shareholders, up 1,443 year-on-year. Of these, 52,823 were individuals from the Czech Republic, the share of strategic shareholder Société Générale remained unchanged at 60.4 percent. Minority shareholders held 39 percent and KB held 0.6 percent of its own shares.
For this year, the bank expects double-digit growth in operating income, primarily supported by net interest income. Net fee and commission income should grow at lower percentages. Operating costs should remain below inflation. “Management expects that KB’s activities in 2022 will generate sufficient profit to cover the Group’s capital needs arising from the growing volume of assets and also to pay dividends,” the bank said.
Among other major banks, Moneta Money Bank published its results for 2021, which last year increased its net profit by 53 percent year on year to 3.98 billion crowns, and Raiffeisenbank in the Czech Republic, whose net profit rose by 119 percent year on year to 4.69 billion crowns, and Czech and Slovak UniCredit Bank, which reported a 39.1 percent increase in profit to 6.62 billion crowns. Société Générale has a record net profit of 5.6 billion euros (136 billion CZK) last year.
Source: Komerční banka and CTK
