* Net profit up 16 pct to 264.9 mln eur vs poll avg 235 mln
* Romania, Hungary business turn to a net loss
* Shares fall as much as 3 pct
(Releads, adds shares, analyst)
By Sylvia Westall
VIENNA, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Losses in Romania and Hungary put
a damper on Erste Group's <ERST.VI> third-quarter results
despite a stronger-than-expected rise in overall net profit at
emerging Europe's third-biggest lender.
Romania, which is surviving on emergency loans from the
International Monetary Fund and the European Union, is Erste's
trickiest market in the former communist bloc. Its economy is
expected to shrink this year due to austerity measures.
Erste's business in Romania lost 9.4 million euros ($13
million) in the quarter, the Vienna-based bank said on Friday.
"The austerity measures are clearly having an effect, we
expect that will continue into 2011," Dominic Bruynseels,
chairman of Erste's Romania unit, told a conference call.
He said the uncertain job market and low wage growth were
having a negative effect on retail lending.
Erste said it had been forced to make higher risk provisions
in Romania because of the tough macroeconomic situation, mainly
felt in the small and medium-sized companies business.
Bruynseels said this was likely to continue next quarter.
Erste said it did not expect the Romanian economy to pick up
until mid-2011 but said it thought the rise in non-performing
loans there was close to reaching a peak.
A banking tax and weaker economy hit business in Hungary,
where Erste turned to a 21.6 million euro net loss from an 11.7
million euro profit a year ago.
"Country-wise, the Czech Republic, Romania and
Hungary performed well below expectations," Wood and Company
analyst Dariusz Gorski wrote in a note to clients.
He added that loan quality in Romania could continue to
deteriorate.
Erste's shares fell 2.6 percent to 32.05 euros by 0933 GMT,
while the STOXX European bank index <.SX7P> slipped 1 percent.
Peer Raiffeisen Bank International <RBIV.VI> fell 3.9 percent.
Shares in emerging European market leader UniCredit
<CRDI.MI>, whose strategy in the region is in investor focus
after a management shakeup, fell 1.2 percent. []
Erste shares have risen by around a quarter this year.
OUTLOOK
High margins have allowed Erste, UniCredit and Raiffeisen to
remain profitable in the emerging Europe region, but investors
are still looking for signs of a clear reversal of the bad debt
cycle to boost returns.
Overall, the bank's non-performing loans (NPL) ratio rose to
7.6 percent and its NPL coverage ratio was up to 60.9 percent.
Erste's group net profit after minorities rose to 264.9
million euros in the quarter to the end of September. Analysts
polled by Reuters had expected 235 million euros.[]
Erste, which was founded by a Vienna priest in 1819 and now
serves 17 million mostly retail and small business customers,
said it would be able to sustain a similar earnings performance
in the final quarter of the year.
It said risk costs for the full year would be at a similar
level as in 2009 and would decline in 2011.
Loan loss provisions fell to 504.2 million euros, with most
of the improvement coming from larger companies.
Chief Executive Andreas Treichl, the longest-serving CEO of
a major European bank, said the third quarter had brought some
clarification on Basel III capital requirements and the bank was
ready to meet the new standards "well ahead of time."
($1=.7205 Euro)
(Additional reporting by Eva Komarek; Editing by Karen Foster
and Michael Shields)
