Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) today reported that it tripled its net profit in the third quarter of 2012. The bank saw net profit reach NIS 479 million in the third quarter, up 210% from NIS 155 million in the corresponding quarter of 2011. In the first nine months of 2012, the bank had a net profit of NIS 1.19 billion compared with NIS 1.27 billion between January and September 2011.
Bank Leumi's net profit was NIS 0.33 per share on income totaling NIS 3.08 billion, beating the "Globes" Psagot analysts' consensus, which had forecast profit of NIS 0.32 per share on total income of NIS 3.036 billion.
The bank's capital adequacy ratio at the end of the third quarter was 15.02%, of which the core capital ratio was 8.60%. Net return on equity in the third quarter of 2012 was 8% (on an annualized basis), compared with 2.7% in the corresponding period last year.
Total Group assets amounted to NIS 369.5 billion at the end of the third quarter, up 4.6% compared with the end of the corresponding quarter last year. Net credit to the public on September 30, 2012 totaled NIS 241.5 billion up 1.7% from the end of the corresponding quarter last year. Deposits from the public at the end of the third quarter totaled NIS 285.2 billion, up 6.7% from last year.
In the third quarter, Bank Leumi made a provision of NIS 150 million for the early retirement of 250 Bank employees as part of the streamlining program that it announced in February.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 29, 2012
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2012