In spite of the financial turmoil on European markets affecting Poland’s banking sector of late, Citi Handlowy bank was able increase its earnings over the first quarter of the year. The last three months brought strong earnings, with the company announcing it made a profit of PLN 244m. The results represent a healthy increase of 34 percent compared with the profit produced during the first three months of 2011, and a 10 percent hike from the Q4 of 2011. The result can surely be considered strong, claims Tomasz Bursa from Ipopemy Securities, though he says one-off events had an impact. The increase was driven by the bank’s PLN-denominated bond sell-off, he adds, without which, the results would not have been as dynamic. “The result would have increased by 4 percent y-o-y,” says Bursa.
