bank of ireland = pidocchioni!!!!
May 19 (Bloomberg) --
Bank of Ireland Plc, the country’s biggest lender by market value, plans to buy back debt to boost capital after full-year profit slumped 97 percent.
Bank of Ireland rose as much as 33 percent in Dublin trading after saying
it will offer about 1.4 billion euros ($1.9 billion) for 3 billion euros of debt that is trading at “significant discounts.” The gain on the transaction will boost Tier 1 capital, a key measure of financial strength.
The bank will set aside 6 billion euros in the three years to 2011 to cover losses on real estate loans as the Irish economy suffers its worst contraction after the collapse of a decade-long property boom. There is “downside risk” to the provision forecast, the bank said. Ireland’s government has pumped 3.5 billion euros into the bank to shore up capital.
“We looked at even further stress testing” that assumed larger losses, and the bank would still be “adequately capitalized,” Chief Executive Officer
Richie Boucher told reporters today at a news conference in Dublin.
Bank of Ireland rose 33 cents to 1.41 euros at 12:54 p.m. in Dublin. The stock has gained 69 percent this year after slumping 92 percent in 2008.
Allied Irish Banks Plc rose 13 percent to 1.22 euros.
Net income fell to 59 million euros, or 5.9 cents a share, in the 12 months ended March 31, from 1.69 billion euros, or 174.6 cents, a year earlier, the Dublin-based lender said in a statement today. The bank set aside 1.44 billion euros to cover souring loans, up from 227 million euros a year earlier.
The results “were slightly better than expected and contained no nasty surprises,” NCB Stockbrokers analysts
John Cantwell and
Ciaran Callaghan wrote in a research note. “We have been arguing the case for a debt buyback for some months.
Hybrid Bonds
Bank of Ireland said it plans to pay cash for six issues of so-called hybrid bonds in euros, pounds and dollars, using a modified Dutch auction to set the price.
Bank hybrid bonds, which combine elements of debt and equity, have plunged on concern lenders may be nationalized and holders of the notes wiped out. The notes typically are undated and coupons can be missed without constituting a default, meaning investors risk ending up with perpetual securities that pay no interest under certain circumstances.
Financial institutions including UBS AG and Lloyds Banking Group Plc have bought back different types of subordinated bonds at discounts to face value. The profit generated by such purchases goes into reserves and can be used to bolster Tier 1 capital, a form of capital regulators insist banks hold to cushion more senior lenders and depositors against loss.
Another ‘Difficult’ Year
Bank of Ireland’s 600 million euros of 7.4 percent undated notes callable in 2011 jumped more than 28 percent to 50 cents on the euro, the minimum price the bank set in its buyback offer, from 39 cents previously, according to HSBC Holdings Plc prices on Bloomberg. Its 500 million pounds of undated 6.4295 percent notes callable in 2017 gained to 30 pence from 19 pence, according to HSBC.
The bank today said it faces “another difficult financial year” with “lower levels of new business activity, higher impairment charges and further pressure on liability spreads,” according to the statement.
Bank of Ireland wrote down the value of its U.S. asset management unit by 304 million euros as customers withdrew funds and the value of investments fell. It also took an 83 million- euro charge as it stopped U.K. mortgage lending through brokers.
Burrows Resigns
Chairman
Richard Burrows will resign at the bank’s shareholder meeting in July after apologizing to investors “for the loss in the value of their stock and for the cancellation of dividends.”
The bank will sell bad loans to the National Asset Management Agency, which is being set up to cleanse the country’s lenders of toxic property loans. Bank of Ireland has about 12.2 billion euros of development loans.
Loans may be sold to the agency on a “phased basis,” Chief Financial Officer
John O’Donovan told reporters.
“It is very unlikely that you are going to find that all the assets will go over at one time,” O’Donovan said. “People just couldn’t manage it.”
To contact the reporter on this story:
Ian Guider in Dublin at
[email protected]
Last Updated: May 19, 2009 07:58 EDT