KBC Group: Second-quarter result of 745 million euros

Press ReleaseOutside trading hours - Regulated information

Brussels, 8 August 2019 (07.00 a.m. CEST)

KBC Group - overview (consolidated, IFRS)	2Q2019	1Q2019	2Q2018	1H2019	1H2018
Net result (in millions of EUR)	745	430	692	1 175	1 248
Basic earnings per share (in EUR)	1.76	0.98	1.61	2.75	2.91
Breakdown of the net result by business unit (in millions of EUR)
Belgium	388	176	437	564	680
Czech Republic	248	177	145	425	316
International Markets	104	70	163	175	299
Group Centre	4	7	-53	11	-48
Parent shareholders’ equity per share (in EUR, end of period)	42.8	43.1	39.9	42.8	39.9

We generated a net profit of 745 million euros in the second quarter of 2019. This is a good result, which – compared to the previous quarter – benefited from increased net fee and commission income, higher non-life insurance results, the seasonal uptick in dividends received, lower costs (due to most of the bank taxes being recorded in the first quarter of the year) and lower loan loss impairment charges. On the one hand, the quarter benefited from a number of positive one-off items, the bulk of which concerned the 82-million-euro gain related to the acquisition of the remaining 45% stake in the Czech building savings bank, ČMSS (see further). On the other hand, trading and fair value income was heavily impacted by several factors, including lower long-term interest rates. On a comparable scope basis, our loans to customers increased by 4% year-on-year, and deposits including debt certificates were roughly stable (excluding debt certificates, deposits were up 3%). Sales of our non-life and life insurance products went up year-on-year, each by 8%. Our solvency position, which does not include the profit for the first half of 2019, remained strong too, with a common equity ratio of 15.6%. If we had included the profit for the first half of the year, taking into account the 59% dividend payout ratio of last year, our common equity ratio would have amounted to 15.9%. Lastly, in line with our dividend policy, we decided to pay an interim dividend of 1 euro per share on 15 November 2019 as an advance payment on the total dividend for 2019.

From this solid position, we are at the same time also preparing for the future. With more and more customers opting for digital channels, we are gradually aligning our omni-channel distribution network with this changing customer behaviour. As already announced, we are in the process of converting a number of smaller branches into unstaffed ones and closing some of the existing unstaffed branches in Flanders. At the same time, we continue to invest in our full-service branches, in KBC Live and in our digital channels. We also optimised our group-wide governance model at management level and we are in the process of further improving operational efficiency throughout the entire organisation in order to take customer service to an even higher level. This adaptation is essential in response to the new environment in which organisations are expected to be more agile, take decisions more quickly and thus continue to meet the expectations of customers and society.

In the quarter under review, we finalised two deals that we had announced in the previous quarter. We completed the sale of our Irish subsidiary’s legacy portfolio of performing corporate loans worth roughly 260 million euros, which means that KBC Bank Ireland is now in a position to fully concentrate on its core retail and micro SME customers. That deal had a negligible impact on our profit and capital ratios. We also closed the acquisition of the remaining 45% stake in the Czech building savings bank ČMSS, for 240 million euros. That had an impact of -0.3 percentage points on our common equity ratio. Due to the revaluation of our existing 55% stake in ČMSS, we were able to book a one-off gain of 82 million euros in the second quarter*. Our Czech group company ČSOB now owns 100% of ČMSS and is thus consolidating its position as the largest provider of financial solutions for housing purposes in the Czech Republic.

I’d like to wrap up by repeating that we are truly grateful for the trust that our customers place in our company. The fact that we were named ‘Best Bank in Western Europe’ by Euromoney a few weeks ago is a clear illustration that we are the reference in the financial sector. Rest assured that we will remain fully committed and focused in our efforts to continue to be the reference in customer-centric bank-insurance in all our core countries.

Johan ThijsChief Executive Officer

Full press release en quarterly report attached.

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