Air Bank cuts FY loss 76% to CZK 80 million; moves closer to profit
04/22/2014

Unaudited consolidated results of Air Bank a.s. as at 31 December 2013 under IFRS standards:

Air Bank cuts FY loss 76% to CZK 80 million; moves closer to profit

In 2013, Air Bank significantly improved its financial results. It cut its full-year net consolidated loss 76% year on year to CZK 80 million for 2013, from CZK 340 million for 2012. Air Bank expects to report a profit one year earlier than it originally planned.

Erich Čomor, Air Bank’s CEO said, “From the very beginning, our financial strategy has been based on carefully-managed costs and gradual growth of revenues from safe investments, loans as well as thanks to  our clients’ active approach to bank´s products and services. While costs are rising in line with the plan, the growth in revenues has surpassed our expectations.”

Air Bank achieved strong commercial success in 2013, acquiring 126,000 new clients to bring its total client base to more than 213,000 at the end of the year. The volume of deposits in current and saving accounts rose 43% year on year to CZK 43.8 billion. Despite keen competition, Air Bank’s new loan product launched successfully and performed well from the start. In 2013, Air Bank provided clients with CZK 3.1 billion of consumer credit.

In addition to growth in new consumer loans and an increase in client transactions, the bank’s primarily safe investments contributed to the significant improvement in financial results. Air Bank has profitably invested a portion of client deposits in the Czech and foreign bond markets. Another portion of the deposits were grown inside the PPF Group through its subsidiaries.

Thanks to its successful retail and investment activities, Air Bank’s consolidated operating income increased 164% to CZK 2.3 billion. Consolidated operating costs increased 85% year-on-year to CZK 2.4 billion. Air Bank’s administrative and overhead costs rose only 31% to CZK 1.1 billion.

In the light of the positive development in its business and financial results in 2013, Air Bank expects to post a positive result as early as this year. The bank originally planned to be in the black in 2015, the fourth year since its entry on the market, and its new ambition is to achieve this goal one year earlier.

“Posting a profit by the third year of operations would be huge success for the bank, which was started from scratch. We want to achieve this goal mainly through further increasing the number of active clients and through growth in the loan portfolio. The first few months of 2014 already indicate that we could make this happen,” concluded Erich Čomor.

Key ratios of Air Bank a.s. as at 31 December 2013