Q2 19 results exhibited stabilization on NII, with lower income from loans more than offset by higher income from GGBs/bonds holdings, bottom line profitability uplift (+32% qoq), negative NPEs formation along with NPEs sales and Mgmt teams reiterating their 2019 P&L guidance.
Profitability.
The aggregate NII grew €17mn driven exclusively by NBG on strong income from fixed income securities, while lending yields fell slightly qoq. Operating income grew 6% on higher income from GGBs holdings, opex grew 6% qoq, PPI grew 6% qoq, LLPs fell 3% qoq and bottom line profitability was shaped at €0.26bn for the 4 banks (+32% qoq).
Guidance.
Mgmt teams generally maintained their P&L guidance for the year along with their NPEs stock reduction targets. Asset Quality. The total NPEs stock fell by €4.5bn qoq to €79bn, on sales/write-offs and €1.4bn of negative net formation, with the NPEs ratio at 42.9% from 44.5% by Q1 and cash coverage at 50%, about 1pps down qoq. Capital.
CET 1 capital for the system was shaped at €27.4bn, with the CET 1 ratio at 15.8%, up 80bps qoq on P&L net gains and a capital boost from GGBs holdings’ gains, with RWAs at €174bn. Alpha enjoys CET 1 ratio about 200bps north of the average.
DTC accounts for 57% of CET 1 capital, down from 62% by Q1-end. On a FL basis the ratios range between 11.3% and 14.8%, which indicate the road ahead would be tough and would require healthy PPI generation to fully offset extra likely provisioning on sales/liquidations.
Investment Case.
Greek sovereign yields have staged notable declines and hover at 1.6% for the 10yr. Greek banks trade on 0.4x P/BV on average and the “buy the dips” call (July 8) has worked during the last month. We remain cautiously optimistic, mainly on valuation grounds (rerating of P/BV multiples) and the prospects for swift NPEs reduction and resurgence of new loan disbursement activity. We retain our preference for NBG.