RPT-EARNINGS POLL-Komercni nine-month net seen up 10 pct

 (Repeats story published on Nov 6) 
    * Komercni Banka nine-month earnings 
    * Nov 9, 10 a.m. (0900 GMT) 
    * Net profit average forecast 6.97 billion crowns 
     
    By Marek Petrus and Jan Korselt 
    PRAGUE (Reuters) - Komercni Banka <BKOMsp.PR>, the third 
largest Czech bank by total assets, is forecast to report a 10.4 
percent rise in nine-month net profits on robust lending 
volumes, a Reuters survey showed on Monday. 
    Nine analysts in the survey predicted the Czech unit of 
France's Societe Generale <SOGN.PA> will post net profit of 6.97 
billion crowns ($316.2 million) in January-September after 
earning 6.31 billion a year ago. 
    Profits at commercial banks have received a boost from 
economic growth of about 6 percent and rising incomes, 
employment and social transfers in the Czech Republic, which 
have fuelled a rise in consumer spending and a boom in buying on 
credit. 
    Low costs of borrowing, with central bank policy rates 
holding a record 75 basis points below euro zone benchmarks, 
have also spurred demand for mortgage loans and consumer credit. 
    "The growth drivers continue to be increased lending and a 
favourable shift towards higher-yield retail loans," said Marta 
Czajkowska, banking analyst at KBC Securities in Warsaw. 
    Strong loan growth drove net interest income up 10.6 percent 
in the first half of this year and analysts expect the bank to 
have sustained the trend of 10 percent year-on-year growth into 
the third quarter. 
    "We expect double-digit loans growth to have continued in 
the first three quarters, which should be reflected in net 
interest income growth," said Jindrich Svatek, equity analyst at 
Raiffeisenbank in Prague. 
    Shares in the only listed Czech lender have gained about 5 
percent since the bank's first-half earnings showed in early 
August that mortgages surged 35 percent year-on-year, consumer 
loans rose 20 percent, and corporate credit grew 11 to 17 
percent. 
    Komercni trades at about 14 times forecast 2006 earnings, 
according to Reuters Estimates, giving a discount to the average 
of some 18 times on banks focused on central Europe, as shown by 
data collected by Raiffeisenbank. 
    "Albeit earnings-per-share advances by single digit in 
percent terms, the environment remains benign and the valuation 
is attractive in absolute terms and within the central European 
context," said Dariusz Gorski, analyst at Deutsche Bank. 
    Following is a summary of analyst forecasts (figures in 
billions of crowns): 
  
 9 MNTH/06            Average   Median  9 MNTH/05      Range 
 NET INTEREST INCOME  11.09     11.09     10.06      10.90-11.18 
 NET FEES              6.53      6.53      6.46       6.48- 6.61 
 REVENUE              18.61     18.65     17.38      18.39-18.76 
 NET PROFIT            6.97      6.98      6.31       6.83- 7.15 
    NOTE - Revenue and net interest income estimates are based 
on responses from eight analysts, seven analysts predicted net 
fees and provisions. 
     
    The following equity houses took part in the poll: 
    Atlantik FT, BH-Securities, Cyrrus, Deutsche Bank, Erste 
Bank/Ceska Sporitelna, KBC Securities/Patria Finance, Morgan 
Stanley, Raiffeisenbank, Wood & Company. 
     
 ((Writing by Marek Petrus; Editing by David Holmes; Reuters 
Messaging: rm://marek.petrus.reuters.com@reuters.net; e-mail: 
prague.newsroom@reuters.com or marek.petrus@reuters.com; Tel: 
+420 224 190 477)) 
 
 For main central European company news, double click on  [.CEE] 
 E.Europe hot stocks   [HOT-EEU]  Main E.Europe news  [TOP/EAST] 
 Related stories on [HU] [PL] [CZ]  [EEU-STX]  [EEU-RES] [EEU-E] 
 For real-time index quotes, double click in brackets: 
 Warsaw WIG20 <.WIG20>  Budapest BUX <.BUX>  Prague PX50 <.PX50> 
 ($1=22.04 Czech Crown) 
  Keywords: FINANCIAL CZECH KOMERCNI