"Greek Postal Savings Bank continued during the Second Quarter of 2007 with a successful growth trend by increasing both the basic balance sheet figures, as well as its results. In parallel, it further expanded its market share in Retail Banking .
The continuously successful materialization of the main strategy for restructuring of the Bank`s assets and for the reinforcement of recurring revenue sources, in conjunction with the successful offering of a further 20% of shares from the part of the main shareholder, the Greek State, create at this point a clear dynamic of acceleration of the Management`s planning, particularly in the fields of strategic synergies` development, more efficient operating cost control, further qualitative systems and human resources upgrade, stronger reinforcement of corporate identity, activity in new business sectors and ultimately more effective management for the accomplishment of the targeted transformation and market share.
The results after taxes in the financial statements of the First Half 2007 are particularly positive and increased by 25.03% compared to respective First Half 2006, which is due both to the increase of interest income (i.e. from recurring income sources) as well as to the containment of operating expenses, thus improving the cost to net earnings ratio to 40.61% from 45.87% during the previous year`s relevant period and from 48.54% at year end 2006.
It is encouraging and reflective of the successful development of the Bank`s asset restructuring that, excluding the financial results, the provisions and depreciation, profits before taxes on a consolidated basis reached an increase in the order of 63.79% in comparison to the First Half 2006, which demonstrates the continuously increasing trend in earnings from recurring operations.
More specifically and in particular, in the First Half 2007, the loans portfolio reached 5,614.96 million Euro, compared to 4,862.81 million Euro on December 31st, 2006 and 4,041.79 million Euro on June 30th, 2006. In total, approximately 752 million Euro of new loans were granted, of which 56% concerned new mortgage loans and 44% concerned consumer loans and credit cards. This represents an increase of approximately 15.47% in respect to the outstanding loans as of December 31st 2006 and approximately 38.92% increase in terms of outstanding loans as of June 30th, 2006.
It is worth noting that the rate increase of loans of the Greek Postal Savings Bank remains significantly higher than the corresponding market rate. According to the figures of the Bank of Greece Bulletin of Conjunctural Indicators, PSB`s market share during the month of May 2007 reached, on the one hand for mortgage loans 6.52%, compared to 6.28% on December 31st, 2006 and 5.82% as of June 30th, 2006, on the other hand consumer loans reached 7.51%, compared to 6.88% as of December 31st, 2006 and 6.20% as of June 30th, 2006.
Respectively, deposits presented an increase of approximately 382 million Euro, which corresponds to 3.56%, reaching the amount of 11,108.24 million Euro, compared to 10,725.96 million Euro on December 31st, 2006 and 10,230.31 million Euro as of June 30th, 2006, representing an increase of 8.58%. It is worth noting that the Postal Savings Bank holds 10% of "savings deposits" of the Greek Market.
Finally, it should be noted that the loans to deposits ratio is continuously improving. From 39.51% in June 2006, it reached 45.34% at the end of the previous year and 50.55% in June 2007.
Despite that market conditions remain particularly competitive in the Banking sector, the development of the Greek Postal Savings Bank figures confirms the estimate that the goals set by Management, primarily for the increase of the loans to deposits ratio to 80% and secondly for the increase of the market share to 10%, will materialize in a shorter time frame than initially anticipated.
Mr. Panos Tsoupidis, Chairman of the Board of Directors
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