Good news: Hungarian OTP Bank earnings much higher than expected while MOL struggles

OTP Bank, Hungary’s biggest commercial lender, booked consolidated after-tax profit of HUF 318.5bn in the third quarter, climbing 8pc from the base period after adjustments, an earnings report released ahead of the opening bell on Friday shows.

Earnings beat analysts’ HUF 290.6bn consensus. OTP’s foreign units generated 64pc of after-tax profit during the quarter. Net interest income increased 15pc to HUF 444.2bn. Net revenue from commissions and fees rose 10pc to HUF 137.5bn.

Risk costs came to HUF 27bn for the quarter, including HUF 15bn in credit risk costs, mainly at OTP’s banks in Russia and Bulgaria, as provisions were released in Hungary. The divestment of OTP’s Romanian bank had a one-off positive impact of HUF 10.5bn at group level. OTP also booked a HUF 16bn fair value adjustment on subsidised home loans and prenatal baby support credit in Hungary.

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OTP had total assets of HUF 41,557bn at the end of September, up 5pc from twelve months earlier. OTP affirmed earlier management guidance: FX-adjusted performing loan volume growth could exceed the 6pc in 2023, while the lender’s consolidated cost-to-income ratio could be around 45pc. OTP said there was no information to be announced about significant acquisitions for the time being, but added that the lender continued to seek potentially value creating acquisition opportunities.

All subsidiaries of the OTP Bank performing well

László Bencsik, OTP’s deputy-CEO, told journalists after the publication of the report that the lender’s profitability was “outstanding” in Q1-Q3 with ROE of 24.9pc. OTP’s liquidity and capital position are stable, while its NPL ratio improved by 0.3pp to 4.0pc, he added. In Hungary, OTP’s mortgage contract volume rose by a factor of close to 2.5 in Q1-Q3, while outlays of personal loans climbed over 60pc, beating the market average, he said. Demand for corporate credit is “modest”, while stock of loans to microbusinesses and SMEs edged up 4pc, he added.

OTP’s Uzbek unit, Ipoteka Bank, acquired last year, generated profit of HUF 42bn in Q1-Q3, he said. Fielding questions, Bencsik said Hungary’s transactions duty was “one of a kind” in the world and hurt Hungary’s competitiveness as well as creating a market distortion for banks competing with fintech companies such as Revolut. From next year, the transactions duty will raise a typical client’s monthly charges by HUF 300, he added.

MOL Q3 earnings fall

Third-quarter pre-tax profit of Hungary’s MOL slipped 24pc year-on-year to USD 503m, the oil and gas company said in an earnings report published ahead of the opening bell on Friday. Net revenue fell 6pc to USD 6.863bn.

Chairman-CEO Zsolt Hernadi said the company had closed a “mixed quarter” in September. Performance of the downstream business weakened amid the “challenging” macro and fiscal environment, but that was counterbalanced by a favourable upstream performance, supported by mature assets in Hungary, he added.

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He said the flat performance of the consumer services business, in spite of a 5pc drop in the number of petrol stations, was a “very good sign”. He added that higher volume of the deposit-return system run by MOL unit MOHU showed the company’s entry into the waste management business was a good step and augured “great potential” for further development. Pre-tax profit reached USD 1.419bn for the period Q1-Q3, putting the company “on track” to meet full-year guidance for around USD 1.6bn, MOL said.

Read also:

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