FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - German lender Commerzbank AG (CRZBY.PK) reported Wednesday that its first-quarter net loss attributable to shareholders was 295 million euros, compared to last year's profit of 122 million euros, hurt by impact from Coronavirus pandemic.
The pre-tax result was loss of 233 million euros, compared to profit of 227 million euros last year. It includes extraordinary proceeds from the EMC sale.
The operating loss was 277 million euros, compared to profit of 246 million euros a year ago. The latest results included 479 million euros negative impact from the pandemic. Excluding Covid-19 impact, operating profit would be 202 million euros.
Revenues declined to 1.85 billion euros from prior year's 2.16 billion euros, mainly due to temporary valuation effects. However, the company reported good development in customer business. Net interest income went up by in excess of 7 percent, and net commission income grew by more than 14 percent on the back of an excellent securities business.
Looking ahead, the Bank expects to keep revenues in customer business largely stable in the financial year 2020, excluding the influence of non-recurring and valuation effects. The outlook assumes that the economy will gradually gain momentum after a lockdown lasting around two months and that there is no second lockdown.
As a result of the intensified cost management, the Bank targets to achieve a cost base on the level of 2019 now also including IT investments of up to 0.2 billion euros from 'Commerzbank 5.0'.
Further, the Bank is adjusting its target for the CET1 ratio to at least 12.5 percent at the end of the year from at least 12.75 percent. The current CET1 ratio is 13.2 percent.
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