NIB reports €400m pre-tax loss

National Irish Bank today reported pre-tax losses of €400m for the first six months of the year after setting aside €420m for loan impairment charges.

The company said income fell 19% to €68m in the six months to end June, due to reduced customer demand and the impact of impaired loans.

Danish-owned NIB reported an operating profit before impairment charges of €20m, a decrease of 22% on H1 2010.

The bank’s total loan book was €9.1bn, down 9% on last year. Commercial property loans amounted to €3.3bn, with most of the bank’s loan impairment charges in this area. The quality of the Bank’s €3.4bn mortgage book "remained satisfactory", the company said.

Customer deposits increased by 21% to €5.1bn.

“Performance for the first six months of 2011 is broadly in line with expectations and reflects the harsh economic conditions that continue to prevail," said CEO Andrew Healy.

"While our restructuring programme is delivering benefits to the cost line, impairments remain frustratingly high and are caused in the main by the continued decline in property values."

" Our parent Danske Bank Group remains strongly committed to Ireland and to National Irish Bank.," Mr Healy added.

"We believe the changes we have made to our business create a good platform for growth once conditions improve” .

Danske Bank Group today rerported a pre-tax profit of €480m, up 14% on the first half of 2010.