Home Credit group raises 2012 net profit by 119% to CZK 13bn

Prague, March 6 (CTK) - Lender Home Credit B.V., a part of Czech group PPF, raised net profit by 119 percent to EUR506m (Kc13bn) in 2012, and its total assets grew by 120 percent to EUR9.4bn (Kc240bn) last year, the company said Wednesday.

The Home Credit group provides consumer loans in countries in Eastern Europe and Asia. The results released Wednesday do not include data on Kazakhstan, Vietnam and part of China.

The group's net loan portfolio grew by 117 percent to EUR6.5bn (Kc166bn) last year. The volume of deposits and balances on current accounts rose by 178 percent to EUR4.7bn (Kc120bn).

The share of loans in default, that is of loans that are 90 and more days overdue, dropped to 7.6 percent from the previous 8.5 percent.

The number of Home Credit's distribution points grew by a half to 109,000. The number of its employees worldwide increased by 78 percent to 38,800 and the number of active clients went up by 40 percent to 6.3 million.

Home Credit, established in 1997 in the Czech Republic, is one of the leading providers of consumer financing in Central and Eastern Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States and Asia.

The company operates in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, China, India and Indonesia. It is planning to expand also to the Philippines.

Beside loans, the company offers banking services to its clients in some countries. Home Credit in Vietnam and a licenced hire purchase company in China are owned directly by PPF Group, but the goal is to incorporate them in the Home Credit B.V. holding in the future.

Home Credit is fully controlled by PPF Group which is one of the biggest investment groups in Central and Eastern Europe. The main owner of PPF is Czech entrepreneur Petr Kellner.