Money Buzz! Europa

Category: Business

  • The pandemic severely impacted Home Credit Group’s new loan volumes

    The pandemic severely impacted Home Credit Group’s new loan volumes

    The pandemic severely impacted Home Credit Group’s new loan volumes, resulting in a 44% year-on-year decline in new loan volumes to EUR 5.9 billion in first half 2020.

    As a result, total consolidated net loans declined 20.0% in the six months to 30 June 2020 to EUR 16.2 billion.

    Home Credit operating decreased to EUR 1.9 billion for the first half, compared to a 20% decrease in net loans.

    In the second quarter, the group’s operating expenses were 17.4% lower compared to the final quarter of 2019.

    During the first half, the NPL ratio increased slightly to 6.2% from 5.6% at the end of 2019 and as at the end of June, the group had 10.3% of its loan portfolio subject to payment holidays.

  • Anna Grzelonska appointed CEO of NN in Turkey

    Anna Grzelonska appointed CEO of NN in Turkey

    NN Group announces that Anna Grzelonska, currently in the role of Chief Executive Officer of NN Asigurari de Viata Romania, will be appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of NN in Turkey, effective as of 1 December 2020.

    Following this appointment, Gerke Witteveen, currently Chief Financial Officer in NN Asigurari de Viata Romania, will act as CEO on an ad interim basis, as of 1 October 2020.

    Ms Grzelonska joined Nationale-Nederlanden Poland in 2008 as Marketing Services and Communications Director, and since then has held senior roles.

    In 2010 Ms Grzelonska was appointed as Chief Marketing Officer, and Member of the Management Board Nationale-Nederlanden Poland.

    In 2014 Ms Grzelonska was appointed as Chief Operating & Information Officer of Nationale-Nederlanden Poland. As from 2017, as CEO of NN Asigurari de Viata, Anna Grzelonska led the Romanian Management Team focusing on strengthening NN Life Insurance Romania local successful business presence.

  • Storytel to launch in Belgium in the fourth quarter of 2020

    Storytel to launch in Belgium in the fourth quarter of 2020

    Storytel will be launching its service in Belgium during the fourth quarter of 2020. The Belgian service will be operated from Netherlands. 

    The app will be curated in Dutch. A wide range of Dutch and French titles available in the app will be augmented with a substantial range of Belgian literature – fiction, thrillers, feelgood, children’s books, self-development, business literature, and much more.

    English and German titles will also be available within the service.

    “Bringing Storytel’s offering of great stories and user-friendly technology to Belgium is really something we are looking forward to, especially with the positive experience we have from the Netherlands, where Storytel has been available since 2013”, says Ingrid Bojner, Chief Communication Officer at Storytel.

    Storytel is one of the world’s leading audiobook and e-book streaming service and offers unlimited listening and reading of more than 500 000 titles on a global scale.

  • Deutsche Bank to close one-fifth of branches in Germany

    Deutsche Bank to close one-fifth of branches in Germany

    Deutsche Bank plans to close one-fifth of branches in Germany in a bid to cut costs and take advantage of changing customer habits, a Deutsche Bank chief told Reuters.

    Philipp Gossow, who oversees Deutsche Bank’s German retail banking operations, said that this reduction in the branch network to 400 units from about 500 today will take place mainly in urban areas and will take place ”in the shortest time possible”.

    This process comes in the context in which Deutsche Bank is going through a global restructuring process that began in 2019, after several years in which the largest German bank recorded losses.

    Deutsche Bank’s rival, Commerzbank, recently decided to close 200 of its 1,000 branches and could close several hundred more units.

  • Peter Bosek to leave Erste and become CEO of Luminor Bank

    Peter Bosek to leave Erste and become CEO of Luminor Bank

    Erste Bank Oesterreich CEO Peter Bosek announced that, after 24 years at Erste including more than 13 years in various management board positions, he will resign as the bank’s chief executive officer and step down from Erste Group’s managing board.

    Bosek will be taking on the CEO role at Luminor Bank AS in the Baltics. Peter Bosek will remain in his current roles until 31 December 2020.

    Commenting on Peter Bosek’s contribution to Erste, supervisory board chairman Friedrich Roedler said: ”Peter has established Erste Bank as the leading bank in Austria. As a member of Erste Group’s management board, he was also instrumental in consolidating our presence in CEE and establishing Erste as the frontrunner in digital banking across the region”.

  • OMV revises oil price assumptions

    OMV revises oil price assumptions

    OMV, the international oil and gas company headquartered in Vienna, has reduced its Brent oil price planning assumptions. 

    The long-term Brent oil price assumptions are now reduced to USD 60/bbl real, compared to USD 75/bbl applied before.

    For 2021, the company expects a continued macroeconomic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and confirms its oil price forecast of USD 50/bbl. 

    The oil price expectations for 2022 and 2023 are reduced to now USD 60/bbl from USD 70/bbl and USD 75/bbl, respectively. 

    For the years 2024 to 2029, OMV assume a Brent oil price of USD 65/bbl (before USD 75/bbl), which is expected to gradually decline to USD 60/bbl until 2035. 

    From 2035 onwards, OMV use a Brent oil price of USD 60/bbl.

    All assumptions for the years 2025 onwards are based on 2025 real terms. 

    The updated price planning assumptions are expected to result in non-cash net impairments of around EUR 600 mn post-tax in the third quarter results, net of minor impairment reversals.

    The impairments in Upstream are approximately equally ascribed to tangible assets and write-offs of exploration intangibles. 

  • Iliad announces its intention to acquire Play, a Polish telecom operator

    Iliad announces its intention to acquire Play, a Polish telecom operator

    French giant Iliad launched a public tender offer for all of the shares making up the capital of the Polish telecom operator, Play.

    The offer is set at a cash amount of PLN 39 per share (representing a total of c. €2.2 billion for 100% of the share capital and an enterprise value of c. €3.5 billion).

    Iliad has signed a binding agreement to purchase a 40% controlling interest from Play’s two reference shareholders for the same unit price (i.e. PLN 39 per share), which will give Iliad the majority of seats on Play’s Board of Directors.

    The deal remains subject to obtaining clearance from the relevant regulatory authorities and notification of the planned acquisition will be submitted to the European Commission.

    Play has seen exceptional growth over the past 15 years. It is the most recent entrant in the Polish mobile telephony market, having entered in 2007, and today it has 15 million subscribers and a 29% market share, making it the leading mobile telephony operator in Poland.

    Play currently employs some 2.800 people.

  • Delivery Hero to acquire Glovo’s operations in Latin America

    Delivery Hero to acquire Glovo’s operations in Latin America

    Delivery Hero announced it was entering into an agreement with Glovo to acquire its operations in Latin America for up to EUR 230 million, including a EUR 60 million performance-based earn-out.

    The transaction is expected to close within the next few weeks, subject to fulfillment of the conditions precedent and relevant regulatory approvals.

    The transaction will cover all of the Latin American countries in which Glovo operates, including Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic.

    Out of these countries, Delivery Hero is already present in Argentina, Panama and the Dominican Republic, and the newly acquired assets in these markets will be transferred to Delivery Hero at closing.

    With the acquisition of Glovo’s operations in Peru, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Honduras and Guatemala, Delivery Hero adds five new countries to its Latin American footprint. Glovo will continue to operate the business in these countries until March 2021.

  • Inditex generates €734 million net cash in the second quarter

    Inditex generates €734 million net cash in the second quarter

    Inditex Group sales continued to recover during the first half of 2020 (between 1 February and 31 July) to reach €8 billion, but the decline for the half was -37%.

    87% of the group’s stores were closed during the month of May, with business gradually returning to normal since.

    Inditex has currently managed to open 98% of its stores around the world, albeit with limits on capacity and restricted opening hours in specific markets.

    Online sales grew sharply

    Total sales were boosted by very strong online growth, which reached 74% year on year in the first six months of the fiscal year.

    Gross margin remained at 56.2% of sales, compared to 56.8% in 1H19.

    Net cash generation at €734 million

    Inditex generated over €1 billion of EBITDA and increased its net cash position by €734 million during the second quarter.

    EBITDA for the first half of the year hit €1.5 billion and net financial position at the end of the first half amounted to €6.5 billion, despite the adverse impact from the Covid-19 pandemic.

    Back to profitability in the second quarter

    The above factors combined to drive a return to net profit in the second quarter to €214 million leaving behind the 1Q net loss.

    First half net loss was €195 million.

  • TBI Bank, net profit of EUR 8.2 million in the first half of 2020

    TBI Bank, net profit of EUR 8.2 million in the first half of 2020

    TBI Bank’s net profit amounts to EUR 8.2 million, the Bank’s unaudited consolidated results for the first half of 2020 show.

    That is 16% lower than in the same period of pre-crisis and record profitability in 2019.

    Assets increased by 8% and reached EUR 504 million at the end of June. In first half of 2020 TBI Bank issued new loans for EUR 150 million, and the Bank’s gross loan portfolio reached EUR 359 million at the end of the period.

    Rretail deposits grew by 10% and reached EUR 312 million.

    More than 500.000 online and offline applications in Bulgaria and Romania and 160.000 loans were issued in first half of 2020.

    ”Actual financial performance in H1 exceeded our reforecast prepared in April, while July and August are on the same ‘overperformance’ track. We all are working extremely hard in order to secure the same trajectory till the year end and going into 2021 ,”  says Denis Gorbunov, CFO of TBI Bank.

  • Jysk, record turnover of 4.1 billion EUR for financial year 2019/20

    Jysk, record turnover of 4.1 billion EUR for financial year 2019/20

    Jysk posted a record turnover of 4.1 billion EUR for financial year 2019/20, which is 7.6 percent higher than in financial year 2018/19.

    The number of customers is close to the same level as the year before despite the fact that a majority of Jysk’s stores were closed in March and April due to coronavirus.

    The increased turnover is a result of many Europeans choosing to invest in their homes, as borders closed and many people prepared for a summer at home.

    Similarly to other companies, Jysk has also seen a significant increase in online sales. Especially in countries where most retail stores were closed for a longer period.

    The result of financial year 2019/20 is expected to be ready within the next couple of months.

    Jysk opened 106 new stores in 2019/20 and plans to speed up and open more than 150 new stores during the current financial year.

  • Selvita revenues at EUR 15.2 million, up by 47% on a year-on-year basis

    Selvita revenues at EUR 15.2 million, up by 47% on a year-on-year basis

    For the H1 2020, Selvita reports consolidated revenues of EUR 15.2 million, up by 47% on a year-on-year basis. The EBITDA result reached EUR 3.6 million, compared to EUR 2.4 million a year earlier.

    The backlog for 2020, as of September 7, amounts to EUR 27.6 million and indicates an increase of 39%, as compared to the values reported a year ago.

    The company’s net profit in the first half of the year amounted to EUR 2.1 million, compared to EUR 1.1 million for a corresponding period last year.

    Selvita revenues increased in both segments

    Commercial revenues in the Services Segment increased in H1 2020 to EUR 12.5 million, showing a 51% increase, compared to EUR 8.6 million in the corresponding period last year.

    The EBITDA result of the Services Segment amounted to EUR 3.2 million, which indicates a 23.8% profitability.

    Revenues in the Bioinformatics segment (Selvita’s subsidiary – Ardigen S.A.) amounted to EUR 2.0 million in 1H 2020, indicating a 43% increase compared to the same period last year.

    The EBITDA result increased by 217% and amounted to EUR 0.4 million, with a margin of 20,1%.