OREANDA-NEWS. September 06, 2012. Sberbank Group (hereafter ”the Group”) has released its condensed interim consolidated IFRS financial statements (hereafter “the Financial Statements”) as at 30 June 2012 and for 6 months ended 30 June 2012, with an independent rewiew report by Ernst & Young Vneshaudit, reported the press-centre of Sberbank.

Income Statement highlights:

Net profit for 6 months ended 30 June 2012 reached RUB 175.3 bn (or RUB 8.03 per ordinary share), showing a 0.5% decrease on RUB 176.1 bn (or RUB 8.12 per ordinary share) for the same period of 2011.

The Group’s operating income before provision for loan impairment increased by 22.7% to RUB 431.7 bn as compared to RUB 351.9 bn for 1H 2011 and was driven mainly by growth of net interest income and net fee and commission income.

Cost to Income ratio stays at an adequate level of 47.6% versus 44.1% in 1H 2011.

Return on equity remained high at 26.1% in 1H 2012 versus 33.2% in 1H 2011.

Statement of financial position highlights:

The Group continues to enjoy solid growth of retail lending, with gross retail loan portfolio up 29.0% for 1H 2012.

NPL portfolio decreased significantly which is explained mainly by a large one-off deal as a result of the Group’s efforts on recovery of problem loans.

The Group’s Equity increased in 1H 2012 by 11.6% to RUB 1,415.4 bn with profit for the period being the major driver of the increase.

Financial and Operating Review:

Interest income increased in 1H 2012 by 29.6% year-on-year to RUB 520.8 bn. The increase was driven by the growth of interest earning assets and higher proportion in them of assets with higher yields, primarily loans.

Interest expenses increased in 1H 2012 by 37.8% year-on-year to RUB 196.6 bn. The largest component of interest expenses was related to retail deposits, which are the core source of funds for the Group. The cost of customer deposits increased in 1H 2012 as a result of rising interest rates in the market.

Net interest income for 1H 2012 totalled RUB 324.2 bn, a 25.1% increase year-on-year. Net interest income remains the main component of the Group’s operating income accounting for 75.1% of total operating income before provision charges for loan impairment.

The Group’s net fee and commission income totalled RUB 78.3 bn in 1H 2012, a 22.2% increase year-on-year. This growth was supported by a variety of fee-generating operations, particularly by expanding operations with banking cards.

Other operating income, which includes amongst others net gains from operations with securities, foreign exchange, derivatives and precious metals and other items, comprised 6.8% of Operating income before provisions. These items in aggregate increased by 2.1% from RUB 28.6 bn in 1H 2011 to RUB 29.2 bn in 1H 2012.

Total operating income before provision for loan impairment for 1H 2012 reached RUB 431.7 bn compared with RUB 351.9 bn for 1H 2011, a 22.7% increase year-on-year. The growth of operating income was primarily driven by increase in its core components i.e. net interest income and net fee and comission income.

Net recovery of previously recorded provision for loan impairment for 1H 2012 totalled RUB 1.1 bn compared with the recovery of RUB 22.2 bn in 1H 2011. This reflects the improved quality of the Group’s loan book.

The Group's operating expenses increased in 1H 2012 by 32.2% to RUB 205.3 bn year-on-year, with employee compensation growing slower than other operating expenses. The main drivers of costs growth in 1H 2012 were continuing investments in personnel quality, IT, and branch network in accordance with the Group's transformation strategy. Growth of operating expenses was driven also by completion od several M&A deals. As a result, the Group's cost to income ratio reached 47.6% in 1H 2012 versus 44.1% in 1H 2011.

The Group’s net profit in 1H 2012 totalled RUB 175.3 bn versus RUB 176.1 bn in 1H 2011, a 0.5% decrease generated mostly as a result of lower loan loss provision recovery, higher operating expenses and higher tax expense.

As of 30 June 2012, the Group’s total assets reached RUB 12,433.8 bn, a 14.8% increase since 31 December 2011.

The customer loan portfolio net off provision for loan impairment increased by 14.8% to RUB 8,861.5 bn in 1H 2012. Loans to individuals before provisions for loan impairment grew by 29.0% to RUB 2,328.4 bn as of 30 June 2012, while loans to legal entities before provisions increased by 7.9% to RUB 7,095.8 bn as of the same date. This increase in lending came as a result of continuing demand for loans  from corporate and retail customers.

The Group’s loan quality improved, with portion of non-performing loans (NPL), defined as loans for which payment of principal and/or interest is overdue by more than 90 days, in the total loan portfolio (the NPL ratio) decreased to 3.4% as at 30 June 2012 compared with 4.9% at the beginning of the year. Decrease in NPL is explained primarily by acquisition in June 2012 of a single asset company holding a large problem loan. This acquisition was part of the problem loan work-out process; as a result, a substantial part of this loan was written off against provisions created in previous years. In view of this, at 30 June 2012, the NPL coverage ratio (total provisions for loan impairment to non-performing loans) increased to 1.8 times; and provisions for loan impairment decreased by 15.1% reaching RUB 562.7 bn. The ratio of provisions for loan impairment to total gross loans reached 6.0% compared with 7.9% at the beginning of the year.

The Group’s securities portfolio increased in 1H 2012 by 0.9% to RUB 1,640.4 bn. As at 30 June 2012, federal government bonds decreased by 4.7% but still accounted for the largest part of the Group’s securities portfolio accounting for 41.4% of its total. The Russian Federation Eurobonds rose by 79.0% to RUB 118.7 bn and their proportion in the total securities portfolio increased from 4.1% at the beginning of the year to 7.2% at 30 June 2012.

As at 30 June 2012, the Group’s total liabilities amounted to RUB 11,018.4 bn, a 15.2% increase since 31 December 2011. Retail deposits, totalling RUB 6,175.4 bn as at 30 June 2012, are the core source of the Group’s funding, accounting for 56.0% of the Group’s total liabilities. They increased by 7.8% compared with year-end 2011. Corporate deposits rose 17.6% to RUB 2,593.5 bn as at 30 June 2012 compared with year-end 2011, and accounted for 23.5% of total liabilities.

As at 30 June 2012, the Group’s amounts due to other bankstotaled 873.0 bn. The 64.0% increase since the beginning of 2012 of amounts taken from the money market was driven by faster growth of assets compared to the growth of the Group’s customer deposits.

The Group’s equity amounted to RUB 1,415.4 bn as at 30 June 2012, an 11.6% increase for 1H 2012. As at 30 June 2012, the Group’s total capital adequacy ratio (Tier 1 and Tier 2) calculated as per Basel 1 was 14.5%, well above the 8% minimum requirement, and the Tier 1 ratio was 11.2%.