Belgian-Dutch banking and insurance group Fortis today reported a halving of its second-quarter net profits owing to the credit market crisis, cutting the figure for the first six months by 41%.
The company reported net profit of €830m in the second quarter, up 3% from the first quarter figure, but down from €1.616 billion the same time last year. For the first six months, net profit fell from last year's €2.8 billion to €1.6 billion.
'Fortis continued to be impacted by the credit market turmoil,' acting chief executive officer Herman Verwilst.
Yet the company's business units, including the recently acquired activities of Dutch bank ABN Amro, performed 'satisfactory' in turbulent market conditions.
'Most of the commercial activities were still able to grow underlying revenues. But we observe that the environment is becoming more difficult on different fronts,' Verwilst said.
Last month, Fortis announced its chief executive officer, Jean-Paul Votron, was stepping down amid shareholder anger of his handling of problems arising partly from the US sub-prime crisis. In June, the company announced a restructuring plan involving a cash call for €1.5 billion, sparking a massive fall in Fortis shares.
