LISBON: Portugal's second-largest listed bank, Banco BPI, posted on Thursday a surprise net loss in the last quarter of 2014 due to one-off charges, but its CEO said the results would not affect its capacity to vie for rival Novo Banco.
BPI reported a net loss of 47.3 million euros ($53.5 million) for the quarter and of 161.6 million euros for all of last year. Analysts in a Reuters poll had expected a quarterly profit of 22.5 million euros.
Chief Executive Officer Fernando Ulrich told reporters the results did not compromise the bank's potential to acquire Novo Banco - the successor to Banco Espirito Santo rescued by the state last August to the tune of 4.9 billion euros. "BPI is a credible entity with capacity to mobilize the necessary resources, it does not depend on specific results in one year or another," he said.
The state hopes to sell Novo Banco in the first half of 2015 and BPI is among 17 potential bidders.
Analysts say BPI faces a tough decision of whether to lose control of its profitable business in Angola - a leading bank called BFA - and bidding for Portugal's Novo Banco.
But Ulrich gave no indication that he may want to sell BFA, calling it an "absolutely extraordinary project."
He said BPI should be able to mobilize investors, especially its key shareholders, and go to the capital markets for the possible acquisition of Novo Banco, "if necessary". Spain's CaixaBank, Angolan billionaire Isabel dos Santos and Germany's Allianz are the main shareholders in BPI.
The bank has previously said its solvency ratio will take a 90-basis-point hit from new European regulatory rules that excluded Angola from a list of countries where regulatory rules are equivalent to the European Union's, meaning BPI's Angolan exposure is 100 percent risk. Ulrich said BPI was in talks with the European Central Bank to meet its risk limits, but gave no additional details.
The bank last year registered capital losses of 137.5 million euros, mainly on sales of Italian and Portuguese government debt in the first quarter of 2014.
But it also had losses of 50.9 million euros on the annulment of deferred taxes relating to 2011 and made payments of 32.5 million euros on early retirements.
In the fourth quarter alone, it had a corporate tax charge of 32 million euros, while a year earlier it had a tax gain of 12 million.
Still, BPI said net interest income rose over 8 percent to 514.5 million euros for all of last year, and it was 14 percent higher in the fourth quarter than a year earlier.
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