Some rejoicing was in order today at Portugal’s largest bank as Millennium bcp reported a net profit of €264.5 million to the end of September.
Last year’s losses of €110 million over the same period have been reversed by a 21% leap in interest income and trading gains.
Millennium’s net interest income rose to €957 million. This is the difference between loan interest received and the interest the bank pays out to its depositors.
Millennium bcp has steadily been selling off its bond holdings, making a €554 million profit in doing so, which when combined with cost reductions of 8% in Portugal has led to a buoyant state of affairs despite continuing problems in its Polish business with the threat of a special tax on banking threatened by the government.
As for the current political impasse, the head of Millennium, Nuno Amado, commented that "politics can be right or left" provided there is investor confidence - "It is important that there is political and tax stability, and respect for Portugal’s international commitments to give confidence to investors."
