BUCHAREST (Dow Jones)--Banca Comerciala Romana, the Romanian unit of Austria's Erste Bank Der Oesterreichischen Sparkassen AG (EBS.VI), posted consolidated netprofit of EUR139.5 million in the first half of this year, boosted by higherretail lending, news agency Mediafax reported Tuesday, citing a statement fromthe bank.
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Banca Comerciala Romana, or BCR, said this first-half net profit figure was a29.4% increase on the year earlier profit of EUR107.8 million.
BCR's assets grew 14.1% in the first half of the year to EUR16.02 billion from EUR14.03 billion at the end of last year, driven by lending growth, the banksaid. BCR is Romania's largest lender by assets, and has a market share of 26.2%.
"While accelerating the process of integration into Erste Bank Group, wesucceeded in achieving very good results in line with our first-half 2007objectives and, furthermore, in developing our business portfolio," BCR's ChiefExecutive Nicolae Danila said in the statement.
"I am confident that we will continue to strengthen our position on theRomanian market, by reaching our objectives set for 2007," Danila added.
The Romanian bank's operating profit grew 28.2% in the first half of 2007 to EUR200 million from EUR156 million due to higher operating revenue, thestatement said.
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