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| Date | 11 Aug 2022 |
| Time | 11:00:06 |
| Category | Miscellaneous |
| ID | 7235V |
August 11, 2022
NLB Group Delivers Robust Business Results in the First Half of 2022
Pursuant to the Rules of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange relating to Article 158 of the Market Financial Instruments Act NLB d.d., Trg republike 2, 1000 Ljubljana, announces:
In the first half-year of 2022, marked by the tragic war in Ukraine and its influence on prices, consumer behaviour, and consequentially volatile capital markets, NLB Group delivered strong business results and reached important business milestones - such as the merger of Serbian banking subsidiaries and the acquisition of N Banka in Slovenia. The Group achieved EUR 287.0 million in profit after tax (EUR 147.2 million higher YoY) in H1 2022, including the effects related to the acquisition of N Banka. The strong recurring operating performance in H1, with 25% YoY growth in recurring profit before impairments and provisions without N Banka's contribution, confirms the robustness of NLB Group's business model.
Many important milestones marked the first six months of 2022. First, the aforementioned acquisition of N Banka whose integration process is currently in full swing and will be completed in spring 2023, and the merger of NLB banka Beograd and Komercijalna banka Beograd in NLB Komercijalna banka, which was fully completed by the end of April. And those are just a few.
"Among others, we have continued firmly on our path of sustainable business decisions and practices by joining the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, and have committed ourselves to aligning our lending and investment portfolios with net-zero emissions by or before 2050. This is so especially in the light of current events in our immediate vicinity, sustainability is gaining an even more important place in our strategic plans - as does the stability of economies in the region where our banks operate. We therefore continue to provide knowledge, support, financing, and services, thereby ensuring that this region continues to prosper; all of this while remaining true to the commitment of creating added value to our stakeholders and to a dividend payout of EUR 100 million in 2022, with the first tranche in the amount of EUR 50 million already having been paid in June," explained NLB's CEO Blaž Brodnjak.
"It is important to note that the Supervisory Board is satisfied not only with Group's strong business performance, but also with its' ability to quickly adapt to ever more complex business challenges and opportunities within the financing industry landscape. In this sense, another important milestone the Group achieved in H1 for example, was founding the NLB DigIT company in Belgrade - a company dedicated to finding and designing IT solutions for the entire Group, to leverage the accumulated know-how and deploy the underlying common tech solutions across the Group's markets. The need for IT specialists, data scientists, data analysts, information systems analysts, software and process developers, and experts who know how to optimise user experience, etc. has been growing globally. NLB Group, which is far more than just a banking group, but more and more an IT company, is no exception. The Group has therefore recognised this gap and decided to address it proactively," emphasized Primož Karpe, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of NLB d.d. upon the publication of the results.
You may find key highlights of the NLB Groups' business operations in H1 2022, Interim Report and Investor presentation on the links below:
More information about the NLB Group business results in H1 2022 will be presented during a webcast, hosted by the Management Board of NLB d.d., on Thursday, 11 August 2022, at 16.00 CEST/14.00 GMT, available here. Members of the Management Board will receive and address your questions. You may post them live, via web app available on the link above, or you may simply send them to the email address [email protected].
Investor Relations
NLB d.d., Ljubljana