OREANDA-NEWS. May 10, 2011. During the first quarter this year, Bank SNORAS and its financial group worked profitably. Bank SNORAS, which has been active in the market, has increased the assets, the loan and deposit portfolio by more than one-fifth within a year. The financial group of the bank has also reached the two-digit annual growth of these indicators, reported the press-centre of Bank SNORAS.

Within the first quarter of 2011, Bank SNORAS activity profit before taxes and provisions comprised LTL 24.1 million. The bank, having assessed the clients' solvency and the risk of other factors as well as their consequences, formed LTL 23.6 million provisions, while the unaudited net profit of Bank SNORAS reached LTL 0.5 million. The unaudited net profit of Bank SNORAS financial group during 1st quarter this year comprised LTL 1.47 million, whereas the group's loss stood at LTL 7.5 million in the appropriate period last year.

“Bank SNORAS continues to work profitably, its financial group eliminated the loss and earned profit; therefore, we evaluate the achieved results positively. Optimism is instilled not only by the resurgent export and the increasing internal demand, but also by the forecast growth of the Lithuanian economy. Business, having felt the recovery of economy, resumes the projects suspended during the economic crisis; however, residents are still not inclined to take loans more actively, although they already assess their financial capabilities more boldly,” states Raimondas Baranauskas, Bank SNORAS President and the Chairman of the Board. “We expect a more rapid growth of the loan portfolio in the second half of this year.”

Within a year, the assets of Bank SNORAS grew by LTL 1.5 billion (23 per cent) and at the end of March this year they comprised LTL 8.2 billion. The loan portfolio of the bank grew by LTL 734.7 million (21 per cent), up to LTL 4.2 billion. The growth of the loan portfolio was affected by business projects financing – within a year it increased by 30 per cent and reached LTL 3.5 billion.

Bank SNORAS deposit portfolio also grew by more than one-fifth (22 per cent) within a year and at the end of March 2011 it amounted to LTL 6.48 billion. Within a year the sum of the companies' deposits in Bank SNORAS increased by 42 per cent, up to LTL 2.25 billion, whereas household deposits – by 14 per cent, up to LTL 4.23 billion.

This year Bank SNORAS is also an active participant of the securities market. Recently the bank distributed the entire new shares emission of LTL 380,083 million nominal value and attracted through it a new institutional investor – the alternative investment fund “JFP Emerging Europe Momentum Fund” managed by the British company “Jubilee Financial Products”. After registering the new shares emission, the authorized capital of Bank SNORAS will increase by 1.8 times – from LTL 494.2 million up to LTL 874.3 million.

“The successfully distributed emission, whose demand in the third stage of the new shares distribution exceeded the offer by 2 times, will let us become the third bank in the country according to the size of the authorized capital. The investors' interest towards Bank SNORAS shares showed that the bank's activity is assessed positively. We think that the enhanced financial potency will provide even more opportunities in search for promising business development directions,” says R. Baranauskas, Bank SNORAS President and the Chairman of the Board.

This year Bank SNORAS has distributed two emissions of one-year fixed interest bonds in litas and through them has attracted almost LTL 54 million for the activity expansion. The bank has been distributing the new bonds since 26 April, their annual interest also amounts to 4 per cent.

Within a year, the assets of Bank SNORAS financial group grew by LTL 1.71 billion (17.6 per cent) and at the end of March 2011 they comprised LTL 11.4 billion. Within a year the loan portfolio increased by LTL 687.6 million (13.4 per cent), up to LTL 5.82 billion, while the deposit portfolio grew by LTL 1.39 billion (17.2 per cent), up to LTL 9.45 billion.