Sparebanken Vest had interest income of NOK 1,462 million in the first quarter of this year. This is an increase of 24 per cent compared to the first quarter of last year, when interest income was 1,175 million. Operating income came to 1,742 million, against 1,427 the previous year.
The result before write-downs and tax was NOK 1,299 million, up from NOK 977 million. The write-downs during the first quarter produced a loss of 44 million, which is an increase of 33 per cent over the course of a year.
The result before tax came to NOK 1,256 million, which is an increase from NOK 944 million last year. After tax expenses, the result ended at 1,224 million, up from 870 million – an increase of over 42 per cent in 12 months.
It gave a result per share (EPS) of NOK 4.40 in the first quarter, up from NOK 3.14 last year. The EPS is reported diluted, which means that existing shares are included in addition to share options that have not been redeemed.
The bank’s liquidity reserves (LCR) were 178 per cent after the first quarter, consisting, among other things, of a bond portfolio of NOK 38 billion.
Lower realized loan losses
Sparebanken Vest had deposits from the bank’s customers of NOK 127.4 million, and loans of NOK 264.6 million at the end of the first quarter, according to the notes.
The proportion of the group’s credit portfolio made up of private individuals is stable at 76 per cent, up one percentage point from the previous year. About 99 per cent of the portfolio are loans secured by housing, the bank writes.
In one year, loans to personal customers have increased by 15.4 per cent, from NOK 174.6 to NOK 201.5 million.
In total, gross lending was NOK 265.4 billion, after an increase of NOK 33.3 billion from the first quarter of last year. Of that, 201.5 billion came from private customers and 63.9 billion from business customers. Note that lending increased by 3.4 per cent during the last quarter.
