Business Development

Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding AG, a member of the RZB Group headed by Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich AG (RZB), posted a consolidated profit (after tax and minorities) of € 171 million during the first six months of 2010, which represents an increase of 119 per cent compared to the same period a year earlier (H1 2009: € 78 million). The developments in provisioning for impairment losses, which declined by 42 per cent year-on-year to € 560 million (H1 2009: € 969 million) in particular had a positive impact on earnings.

Profit from operating activities declined in the first half of 2010 by 17 per cent, or € 183 million, on the comparable period last year to € 889 million. The main reasons for that were lower net interest income, weaker net trading income, and a negative value for other net operating income.

While operating business declined in the reporting period, sharply lower net allocations to provisioning for impairment losses still led to a significant recovery of earnings and hence to improved returns. The average equity underlying the calculation increased by 11 per cent on the comparable period last year to € 7.1 billion due to participation rights and positive currency effects.

At 98 per cent, the rise of profit before tax was far above that of average equity, so the return on equity also climbed by 3.7 percentage points to 8.6 per cent on the comparable period last year.

In total, Raiffeisen International's 2,959 business outlets as per 30 June 2010 serviced more than 14.7 million customers.

You can access the web-version of Raiffeisen International's interim report at http://qr022010.ri.co.at.