euro adhoc: Valartis Group AG
other
Substantial rise in profit for Valartis
Group in the first half of 2007
Disclosure announcement transmitted by euro adhoc. The issuer is responsible for the content of this announcement.
09.08.2007
In the first half of 2007 Valartis Group´s profit (incl. performance fees) rose by 124.6% to CHF 31.9 million (first half of 2006: CHF 14.2 million). Apart from higher commission income, securities income was the main contributor to this increase. Shareholders´ equity amounted to CHF 226.2 million at the end of June 2007 (June 2006: CHF 177.5 million), assets under management in-creased to CHF 4.5 billion (CHF 3.6 billion).
Operating income rises to CHF 62.8 million In the first half of 2007 Valartis Group reached a net operating income of CHF 62.8 million (including performance fees), exceeding the previous year´s figure (CHF 29.0 million) by CHF 33.8 million or 116.4%. The securities business made a significant contribution to this advance with an income of CHF 25.6 million in the first six months (CHF -8.9 million). In a positive market environment the welcome development of this business unit was, in particular, due to the active management of Swiss small & mid cap stocks, a core competence of Valartis Bank.
In the commission business, the Group´s most important source of revenue, income grew to CHF 36.5 million (CHF 35.7 million) despite lower performance fees. Apart from the brokerage and derivatives operations, assetmanagement activities dominated the commission business. As at the end of June the Group´ assets under management amounted to CHF 4.5 billion (CHF 3.6 billion), mainly in the form of actively managed investment companies and investment funds. In wealth management, the private-banking activities were further expanded by the purchase of Valaxis Asset Management at the beginning of the year and the establishment of a branch of Valartis Bank in Geneva. In the field of real estate structured finance Valartis Bank arranged the refinancing of four commercial properties in Scandinavia and Canada totalling approximately CHF 450 million. The division also took on various consulting mandates to optimize complex real estate financings.
Higher costs - significantly more staff General and personnel expenses rose to CHF 22.2 million in the first half of 2007 (CHF 11.5 mil-lion); this was in line with the expansion of the four business units asset management, wealth management, investment banking and real estate structured finance. The higher costs were mainly due to higher staff levels - at the end of June 2007 the Group had 85 (50) employees - and provisions for performance-related salary payments.
The operative result (gross profit) rose by 131.4% to CHF 40.6 million (CHF 17.5 million). Taking depreciations of CHF 0.9 million (CHF 0.5 million) into account, the cost/income ratio reached 36.8% (41.4%) in the first half of 2007.
Shareholders´ equity at CHF 226.2 million With a group profit of CHF 31.9 million - corresponding to CHF 6.5 (CHF 2.9) per bearer share - the Group´s shareholders´ equity rose to CHF 226.2 million by the end of June 2007 (end of 2006: CHF 209.2 million). On the basis of weighted shareholders´ equity, which, inter alia, includes the dividend payment of CHF 13.75 million in April 2007, Valartis Group generated an annualized return on equity of 28.8% (16.0%) in the first six months of 2007.
The interim report can be downloaded in PDF format from our homepage www.valartis.ch.
end of announcement euro adhoc 10.08.2007 06:30:00
Further inquiry note:
Lorenzo Trezzini, CFO Valartis Group
Phone +41 43 336 81 11
Branche: Financial & Business Services
ISIN: CH0001840450
WKN: 184045
Index: SPI, SSCI, SPIEX
Börsen: SWX Swiss Exchange / official market