In a quarterly report published earlier than expected, the bank announces that they will leave Denmark and Finland.
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Denmark and Finland currently make up a total of ten per cent of the company’s annual revenues, 13 per cent of costs and eight per cent of the group’s operating profit, Handelsbanken states in a message Tuesday night.
– Despite a long-term presence in these markets, the bank’s market position is small, and the bank now sees few opportunities to scale up the offer without significant investments, Handelsbanken writes in the report.
Now they are starting the process of selling the businesses in these countries.
– Business-wise, we want a presence where we have the best conditions for profitable growth and a strong market position. With this, we strengthen the bank’s ambitions for our main markets Sweden, Norway and the United Kingdom, says CEO Carina Åkerström in a comment.
The report for the third quarter was initially to be published on Wednesday morning, but on Monday the bank announced that it would accelerate.
The figures are stronger than expected:
- Handelsbanken increased its operating profit by 55 per cent to SEK 6.56 billion, compared with the same period last year. Analysts expected an operating profit of NOK 5.78 billion in advance, according to estimates from Infront.
- Total revenues landed at 11.8 billion, up from 11 billion in the same period last year. Here, analysts expected 11.5 billion.
- Net interest income in the period was SEK 7.96 billion, up from NOK 7.89 billion. However, it is slightly below the expected 8 billion.
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