Ljubljana - The SKB bank, which is owned by the Hungarian OTP Group, posted a net profit of EUR 25.1 million in the first half of the year, which is 20% more than in the same period last year, which the bank largely attributed to the overall economic recovery after the Covid-19 epidemic.

At the end of the first half, return on equity was 1.2 percentage points higher than at the beginning of the year, standing at 11.6% percent, SKB said in a press release on Monday.

The credit portfolio was up by EUR 263 million or 10%, mostly due to a high growth in loans to companies and housing loans, with the total amount of loans given amounting to EUR 2.89 billion at the end of June.

The SKB group generated EUR 62 million in net banking income in the January-June period, which is 2% more than in the same period last year, while operating costs were up by 7.7% to EUR 36.8 million.

The higher operating costs resulted in operating revenue dropping by 5.3% compared to the first half of 2021 to EUR 25.2 million. This included EUR 6 million in revenue from risk costs related to provisions created during the epidemic.