Portugal’s Novo Banco, which emerged from the ruins of the collapsed Banco Espirito Santo, reported a 49% leap in its net loss for January-September to €853 million following provisions to discontinue its business in Spain.

The bank, 75% owned by Lone Star since October 2017 and 25% by the state-backed Portuguese Resolution Fund, said its results were also hit by provisions for bad loans.

The impairments and provisions for the exit from its retail network in Spain and for higher credit risk totalled around €727 million, the bank said, adding it also took a hit of €187.2 million due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier this year, sources told Reuters that Novo Banco was looking to sell its loss-making retail network in Spain, seeking to bolster its balance sheet and prevent further losses. The provisions reflect expected losses on any deal.

The bank has already sold assets in France, Asia and Cape Verde.

Novo Banco’s recurrent net income fell 30% to €98 million, but the bank said the results showed its “value-creation capacity and sustainable profitability”.

Net interest income, a measure of earnings on loans minus deposit costs, increased 9.3% to nearly €373 million.

The lender halved its non-performing loans (NPL) to €2.8 billion in September, after it sold problematic asset portfolios, and cut its NPL ratio to 9.7% from 19.9% a year earlier.

Original Story: Reuters |Sérgio Gonçalves 
Photo: Novo Banco website
Edition: Prime Yield