Agricover Credit IFN (non-banking financial body, ed. n.), a financial institution aimed at financing Romanian agriculture, ended the first half of 2019 with an operating result of 26.8 million lei and a net profit of 23.3 million lei, up by 31pct compared to the same period last year, according to a press release sent to AGERPRES on Friday.
In the first six months, Agricover Credit IFN provided financing worth 576.4 million lei to a number of 3,465 farmers, the credit exposure exceeding 1.64 billion lei, up 22 pct over the same period last year.
"We are continuing the upward trend in 2019 and we support performance in Romanian agriculture, offering specialized credit products, adapted to the needs of farmers. The business strategic direction keeps the focus on attracting new customers, small and medium farmers, and this is already visible in the significant increase of the number of active clients. The fact that we have managed to increase the value of the loans granted in the first semester of this year, compared to 2018, encourages us to continue our strategy for the second part of the year," said Robert Rekkers, director general Agricover Credit IFN.
As of June 30, 2019, the operating profit of the company was 26.897 million lei, up 27 pct compared to the same period of 2018, the net profit of 23.373 million lei, on the increase by 31 pct, the equity of 252.980 million lei , up 24 pct. The value of the granted loans went up by 10 pct, to 576.415 million lei, and the number of active clients increased by 17 pct, to 3,465 farmers.
Agricover Credit IFN - a subsidiary of Agricover Holding, is the first financial institution in Romania that offers financial products exclusively to farmers in the fruit and vegetable and zootechnics sectors. In 2017, the EBRD became a shareholder in Agricover Holding SA, with an investment of 32 million lei (the equivalent of 7 million euros) in the subscribed share capital of the company of almost 13 percent. Agricover Holding brings together the activities of Agri-Business and Agri-Finance.