The National Bank of Greece, the country's largest lender by assets, said Thursday that its nine-month net profit rose 66 percent on strong loan growth and the consolidation of its recent Turkish acquisition.
The numbers also reflected the bank's sale in April of a minority stake in AGET Heracles Cement to majority shareholder Lafarge Group, and included a 20 million euro ($29.5 million) donation to the relief fund for victims of last summer's massive forest fires in Greece.
For the nine months to Sept. 30, the company said net profit was 1.31 billion euros ($1.93 billion), compared with 791.4 million euros ($1.17 billion) in the same period a year earlier.
Net interest income rose by 53 percent to 2.22 billion euros ($3.25 billion) from 1.45 billion euros ($2.14 billion) in the same period of 2006, while total income rose to 3.28 billion euros ($4.84 billion) from 2.12 billion euros ($3.13 billion).
The figures were higher than analyst expectations of a 61 percent jump in net profit and slightly above expectations of a 52 percent rise in net interest income.
Like other Greek lenders, NBG has been riding a consumer lending boom in Greece thanks to low real interest rates, a buoyant property market and the easing of consumer credit restrictions.
In mid-August last year, NBG completed its acquisition of a 46 percent stake in Turkey's Finansbank and has since raised its holding to 89.44 percent.
"Foreign subsidiaries contributed over a third of total profit, with Finansbank holding the first place, delivering net profit of 349 million euros ($515 million)," Chairman and Chief Executive Takis Arapoglou said in a statement.
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