Egnatia posts 1.6m-euro income in H1

In the first six months of the year Egnatia Bank, one of the smallest banks in the system, registered income before tax worth 1.6m euros. The bank had posted 0.67m-euro profit in the first half of 2005, according to international financial reporting standards (IFRS). Egnatia’s assets in late June had a value of 136m euros. Compared with last year’s H1, the bank’s assets advanced by almost 45%. “By yearend, our assets will go beyond 200m euros,” says Stilyanos Sofianos, chairman of the bank. Calculated in line with Romanian accounting standards, income before taxation amounted to 1.22m euros in the first half of 2006, slightly lower than the figure reported for the first half of last year. The volume of loans granted by the bank climbed by 57% between last June and this June, reaching 82m euros. Deposits from customers advanced at a slower pace, by 50%, to 42m RON. Since the beginning of the year, the bank has secured financing worth 55m euros from its majority shareholder, Egnatia Bank Greek group.