SEB Posts Forecast-Beating 2Q Net Profit on Higher Income
12 July 2019 - 4:12PM
Dow Jones News
By Dominic Chopping
STOCKHOLM--Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (SEB-A.SK) posted a
forecast-beating second-quarter net profit on Friday after its
income was boosted by higher demand for lending and capital-market
financing, and by a bigger market share in Swedish home
mortgages.
The Sweden-based bank posted net profit of 4.89 billion Swedish
kronor ($521 million) for the three months ended Jun. 30 compared
with SEK10.02 billion a year earlier, beating the SEK4.55 billion
forecast from analysts polled by FactSet. Net profit last year was
boosted by the sale of its Danish pension business.
Net interest income rose to SEK5.69 billion from SEK5.50
billion.
The pipeline for lending and investment banking activity
continues to look promising, but longer-term visibility is somewhat
reduced due to the uncertain macroeconomic environment, SEB
said.
Demand for lending remained solid among its corporate customers
and the bank continued to grow its market share, it said.
"For the first time in many years, we also increased our market
share in household mortgages in the second quarter," said Chief
Executive Johan Torgeby.
"Competition remains intense but margins on new sales have
stabilized since the sharp decline that followed the decision by
the Swedish central bank in December to hike the repo rate."
The bank's common equity Tier 1 ratio--a key measure of
financial strength--stood at 16.6% at the end of the quarter, down
from 17.6%.
Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com;
@domchopping @WSJNordics
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 12, 2019 01:57 ET (05:57 GMT)
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