Portuguese state bank Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) posted a profit of 3.4 million euros in the period from January to September, a decrease of 92 percent over the amount recorded in the same period of 2014, the bank said in a statement.
In a statement on accounts in the first nine months of the year issued through the Portuguese Securities and Exchange Commission (CMVM), CGD explained the sharp drop by the fact that in 2014 the bank sold insurance companies Fidelidade, Cares and Multicare.
“Earnings in the first nine months of 2014 were higher due to non-recurring factors, such the sale of holdings in insurance companies Fidelidade, in which it kept a stake of just 15%, and of Cares and Multicare, in which it kept a stake of 20 percent,” said the statement.
The sale, in which CGD raised 278.9 million euros, drove the results had been positive, as otherwise CGD would have presented a loss of 232.6 million euros in September 2014, rather than a profit of 46.3 million euros.
Macau’s Banco Nacional Ultramarino (BNU), contributed 45.8 million euros (32.3 million euros from January to September 2014) to CGD’s consolidated accounts from January to September, and was the business unit that added most to overall accounts, almost double the French branch, which provided 28.9 million euros (-50.4 million euros in 2014).
The CGD statement said units located in Africa and Asia had seen the best performance, including BNU Macau, Mozambique’s BCI and Banco Caixa Totta of Angola which together added 80.1 million euros to the accounts of the Portuguese state bank.
(macaunews/macauhub)
