First group of bank levies and personnel costs – diepresse.com
On the other hand, the defaults on payment decreased in Austria.
Austria’s largest Bank Erste Group started the new financial year with a slight decline in results. The operating result (EBIT) fell by 3.2 percent in the first quarter to 1.46 billion euros, as the institute working next to the home market in Eastern Europe announced on Wednesday. The net profit also decreased to 743 million euros after 783 million euros in the previous year. The first group narrowly missed the expectations of the analysts: on average, they had expected an EBIT of 1.47 billion euros and a net profit of 749 million euros.
The result was burdened in particular by increased personnel and IT costs- the personnel expenses rose by 6.4 percent to EUR 794 million. In addition, banking taxes in four of the most important core markets had a negative impact. On the other hand, the risk costs that decreased in comparison to the previous year developed positively – especially due to lower payment failures in the Austrian market. The first Group holds on to their destinations for 2025.
Dividend and share buyback program
A forecast for the other operational success is difficult « since this is particularly influenced by regulatory costs and various categories of profits/ losses from financial instruments not evaluated as a fair value, » it said in the broadcast. However, assuming an effective corporate tax rate of 21 percent and a minority result less compared to 2024 should be around 15 percent in 2025.
The core capital ratio (CET1) should increase and thus « enable further distribution options or flexibility with regard to M&A transactions ». The first Group is aiming for a regular dividend of three euros per share and the implementation of a third share buyback program of 700 million euros, provided that the necessary regulatory permits are granted. (Reuters/Apa/Red.)
