Helaba's results reflect sound development in first quarter

Frankfurt am Main (ots) -

- Group pre-tax profit increases by around 13 per cent
- Quarterly result determined by conservative valuation methods
- Cautiously optimistic outlook

Helaba Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen has posted a first-quarter
Group net profit before taxes of EUR 220 million, which equates to an
increase on the previous year of around 13 per cent. Thanks to a
growth in customer sales and margins, net interest income increased
by EUR 30 million to EUR 250 million. Loan loss provisions in the
lending business were reduced by 11 per cent to EUR 58 million whilst
maintaining conservative valuation standards. Accordingly, net
interest income after accounting for loan loss provisions rose by
around 24 per cent to EUR 192 million. Net commission income, at EUR
61 million, was down by approximately 10 per cent. This can be
primarily attributed to the strategic decision to reduce off-balance
sheet business in the USA. The favourable environment for interest
and credit trading (reversals of impairments due to a narrowing of
credit spreads and the low interest rate) was responsible for a jump
in the net trading result of almost 59 per cent to EUR 208 million.
As a consequence of IFRS rules, which take liquidity components of
foreign currency into account in the scope of valuing derivatives,
the net income from hedging activities/derivatives fell by EUR 27
million to EUR -39 million. With the inclusion of the earnings
components from hedging activities/derivatives, financial assets (EUR
-3 million) and the other operating result (EUR 49 million), the
operating income of the Helaba Group increased by about 9 per cent to
EUR 468 million. Administrative expenses grew by EUR 12 million to
EUR 248 million, an increase which is a result of one-off effects of
a capital investment nature.

Compared to 31 December 2011, the balance sheet total of the
Helaba Group rose by EUR 6.1 billion to EUR 170.1 billion. On the
asset side, the rise in loans and advances to banks and financial
assets contributed significantly to this. Loans and advances to
customers remained practically unchanged at EUR 83.5 billion. At EUR
3.6 billion, the positive development of the previous two quarters in
medium and long-term new business with customers continued. In the
middle of April, the bank successfully issued a public Pfandbrief
with a volume of EUR 1 billion and a maturity of seven years. The
Helaba Group's core Tier-1 ratio reached 10.6 per cent and the total
capital ratio is 16.1 per cent. Risk-weighted assets declined by EUR
1.4 billion to EUR 55.9 billion. At the end of last week, the ratings
agency Fitch confirmed the corporate family rating of "A+/a+" for
Helaba and the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe Hessen-Thüringen.

Hans-Dieter Brenner, CEO of Helaba, is satisfied with the
quarterly results: "With a Group net profit before taxes of EUR 154
million, we have made a positive start to the 2012 financial year.
Despite market volatility, which is expected to continue, we are
aiming at a similarly good result for the year as a whole."

Contact:
MAIN TOWER
Neue Mainzer Straße 52-58
60311 Frankfurt am Main
www.helaba.de
Tel.: +49 (0) 69 / 9132 - 2192

Wolfgang Kuß
E-Mail: wolfgang.kuss@helaba.de

Ursula-Brita Krück
E-Mail: ursula-brita.krueck@helaba.de