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Halkbank of Turkey Second-Quarter Net Income Rises 23 Percent on Loans
Turkiye Halk Bankasi AS, a Turkish state-run bank, said second-quarter profit rose 23 percent as it lent more to consumers and businesses and recovered loans left unpaid after the financial crisis.
Net income climbed to 519.8 million liras ($344 million) from 422.5 million liras a year earlier, according to a filing with the Istanbul Stock Exchange today. The mean estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was 496.5 million liras.
“Halkbank’s growing more aggressively compared to peers and their loan book is much bigger than last year as they continued to lend,” said Funda Afacan, an analyst at BGC Partners Inc. in Istanbul. “They’re also reporting significant gains from the recovery of non-performing loans.”
Banks in Turkey, which didn’t have a government bailout after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. collapsed in September 2008, are lending more as the central bank keeps the benchmark interest rate at a record low of 7 percent. The economy expanded 11.7 percent in the first quarter, lagging only China among the Group of 20 industrialized nations.
Net interest income rose 7 percent in the second quarter to 823.7 million liras, Halkbank said. Lending grew to 38.3 billion liras from 32.5 billion liras at the end of last year.
Halkbank has been expanding its loans at a faster pace than most rivals as it switches out of illiquid government bonds. The bank sees 20 percent growth in loans this year, Chief Executive Officer Huseyin Aydin said May 13.
The government raised $1.9 billion selling 25 percent of Halkbank to the public in May 2007. The state asset sales agency in Ankara has said it may sell more shares in the lender, without setting a date.
To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Bentley in Istanbul at mbentley3@bloomberg.net
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