ATHENS (Reuters) – Alpha Bank, Greece’s fourth largest bank by market value, upgraded its profit guidance on Friday after reporting a strong net profit for 2024 due to higher fee income and stable net interest income.
Alpha, which announced the acquisition of a small Cypriot bank on Thursday, reported normalized net earnings of 861 million euros ($894.23 million) last year, up 9.3% from the 787.4 million euros in 2023.
Like other Greek lenders, whose profits have been boosted by higher net interest income and a strong rebound of the Greek economy, Alpha Bank upgraded its earnings expectations to 0.42 euros per share by 2027.
Greek banks are steadying and returning to profit after they were nationalized following a financial meltdown in late 2009 due to the country’s debt crisis, and needed several capital injections from the government.
They received European Central Bank approval last year to resume dividend payments for the first time in 16 years after they cut bad loan ratios, eliminated state ownership, and returned to profit.
“Aligned with our commitment to maximizing shareholder value, dividend accrual for the full year comes to 281 million euros, or 43% of reported profit… and with 75% dedicated to conducting a buy-back,” said the bank’s Chief Executive Vassilios Psaltis.
Net interest income, which reflects the gap between lending and deposit rates, was almost flat year-on-year in 2024 at 1.65 billion euros, the bank said.
Net fees increased by 12.2% year-on-year to 420 million euros while the non-performing exposure ratio was reduced to 3.8% of its total loan book from 4.6% in 2023.
($1 = 0.9628 euros)
(Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)
