São Paulo – The Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) announced this Friday (12th) that it posted a record high net profit in the first half of the year. The net result, according to a statement released by the institution, was 5.3 billion reals (US$ 3.2 billion), a 47.8% increase compared with the first six months of last year.
“The result was enabled by an efficient management of the variable income portfolio, of profitability with the return on loans and successful credit retrivals,” according to the statement issued by the bank, which adds that the insolvency index dropped from 0.15% to 0.12%.
The BNDES recorded an outstanding growth of 119.6%, or 2.5 billion reals (US$ 1.5 billion), in its equity stakes. According to the bank, this was due to the 79.2% increase in dividends and interest collected based on the own capital of companies in which the institution owns stakes. The value collected was 2.1 billion reals (US$ 1.2 billion).
Asset sales, in turn, have grown by 77.8% and reached nearly 1.6 billion reals (US$ 981.9 million) in the first half of 2011.
Revenues from reversal of provision for credit losses, which according to the BNDES was driven by improved portfolio quality and credit retrieval, reached 850 million reals (US$ 521.6 million), of which the latter accounted for 450 million reals (US$ 276 million). The portfolio reached 376 billion reals (US$ 230.7 billion) on June 30th.
Loans
Regarding disbursements, the bank cleared 55.8 billion reals (US$ 34.2 billion) in the first six months of 2011, a 6% decline over the same period of 2010. The statement informs, however, that the performance is in keeping with expectations for the year.
The institution adds that the figures point to an “increase in financing of infrastructure projects and support to smaller enterprises.” In the latter case, 23.2 billion reals (US$ 14.2 billion) were cleared to micro, small and medium companies in the first half, 42% of total disbursements. According to the BNDES, in 2010 the rate was 32% and in 2009, 22%.
To micro and small businesses alone, the volume of credit cleared was 13 billion reals (US$ 7.9 billion), a 23% increase compared with the first six months of last year.
In terms of sectors, the infrastructure field received 38% of total disbursements, followed by industry (34%), trade and services (19%) and agriculture (9%). Loans to the extraction, metallurgical, textile and clothing industries grew the most, according to the bank.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
