Latest news with #JakobVanCalster
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
KBC to buy Slovakia's 365.bank in deal valuing it at 761 million euros
By Jakob Van Calster and Mateusz Rabiega (Reuters) - Belgian bank KBC Groep said on Thursday it has reached a cash agreement to acquire 98.45% of in a deal valuing the Slovakia-based lender at 761 million euros ($852 million). KBC said the acquisition will help strengthen its presence in Slovakia and the Central and Eastern Europe region, and is its biggest deal since it acquired Raiffeisen Bank's Bulgarian operations in the summer of 2022. "Our goal has always been and remains to strengthen our presence in Central and Eastern Europe ... Through this acquisition, we strengthen our geographical diversification (and) we continue to build market leadership in Slovakia," KBC CEO Johan Thijs said in a statement. Thijs had told Reuters in February that he was keen to expand KBC's business in this area. The offer represented a 1.4 multiple of book value by December 2024 and is expected to be finalised by the end of the year, pending regulatory approval, KBC said. The deal would push ČSOB, KBC's wholly-owned subsidiary and the largest bank by assets in neighbouring Czech Republic, to a market share in Slovakia of around 16%. The transaction would have an effect of about 50 basis points on KBC's common equity tier-1 ratio, which stood at 14.5% in the first quarter as the bank reiterated its ambition to be amongst the best-capitalised financial institutions in Europe. ($1 = 0.8935 euros)
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Dutch bank ING sees no uptick in 2025 total income amid European rate cuts
By Jakob Van Calster and Mateusz Rabiega (Reuters) -Dutch bank ING Groep on Thursday said it does not expect its annual total income to grow in 2025, as the European Central Bank continues to cut interest rates on concerns of a muted economy. The ECB cut its deposit rate by 25 basis points to 2.75% last week as euro zone inflation continued to ease, bringing an end to steadily high borrowing costs supporting bank profits in Europe. "We anticipate revenue at the same level as last year, so 22.6 billion (euros)", ING CEO Steven van Rijswijk said, adding that the bank expects to compensate the hit to net interest income (NII) by raising fees and repricing deposits. The bank, which serves around 40 million customers in more than 40 countries, expects fee income to grow by 5% to 10% in 2025, after an 11% jump to 4 billion euros ($4.15 billion) last year, while NII slumped by nearly one billion euros. ING outlined that the annual guidance did not include the impact from recent Russian business sale, which is expected to put a 700 million euro dent in its post-tax profits. It also expects rising total expenses of between 12.5 and 12.7 billion euros. The group reported lower-than-expected fourth-quarter profit, weighed by higher operating expenses and loan loss provisions. "We expect single-digit downgrades for consensus EPS (earnings-per-share) for the full year of 2025, driven by the higher cost guidance", said J.P. Morgan analysts. ING's net profit slumped almost 26% from a year ago to 1.15 billion euros in October-December, missing the median expectation of 1.22 billion euros in a company-compiled poll. The bank reported annual total income of 22.62 billion euros, beating its target of over 22.5 billion euros. ING said it will propose a final cash dividend of 0.71 euro per share. ($1 = 0.9629 euros) Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Mersen beats growth forecast, 'no significant impact' from US tariffs
By Leo Marchandon and Jakob Van Calster (Reuters) -French advanced materials supplier Mersen reported higher-than-expected annual consolidated sales of 1.24 billion euros ($1.29 billion) on Wednesday, marking organic growth of 2.6%. Mersen's Chief Financial Officer Thomas Baumgartner told Reuters on a call that the group surpassed its initial yearly organic growth forecast of 1% to 2%. He attributed this partly to a rebound in the silicon semiconductor market towards the end of 2024. The company, which counts Alstom and Samsung as clients, pushed back its 2027 financial targets to 2029 in December due to the slowdown in the electric vehicle market. This includes its sales goal of around 1.7 billion euros ($1.8 billion). Mersen also faces potential disruptions from prospective U.S. tariffs under the Trump administration, but Baumgartner said he did not expect any significant impact. The company has a definite advantage on tariffs and exchange rates due to its local model of supply and production, he noted. Driven by three acquisitions in the United States, the North American region was the only one posting sales growth in the fourth quarter, of 12.1%. Sales fell 2.9% for Europe, 12% for the Asia Pacific, and 24.5% for the rest of the company now expects to end 2024 with operating margin before non-recurring items of 10.5%, at the upper end of forecasts. ($1 = 0.9601 euros) Sign in to access your portfolio
