articles | 29 October 2018

Stockmarket suspends Hellenic shares at lender’s request

The stock market (CSE) said it has suspended trading of Hellenic Bank shares at the lender’s request, as it expects its profit after tax for the first nine months of 2018 to be higher than expected due to the inclusion of assets and liabilities acquired from the cooperative bank.

The bank said earlier that further to the completion of the acquisition, the company is currently undertaking a purchase price allocation exercise based on the fair value of the acquired assets and liabilities as at the date of completion (September 1, 2018).

Preliminary results of this exercise are indicating that the negative goodwill to be recognized will be at a range significantly higher than previous estimates.

The company stresses that the exercise is subject to an audit by its auditors and there are no assurances at this stage that they will agree with the methodology used and/or the outcome of the exercise.

It is noted that the exercise and its audit involve the use of internal models and judgments, therefore, the results reached by the bank and its auditors could be substantially different.

In addition to the final value of the negative goodwill, the profit after tax for 9M2018 is subject to the tax treatment of the negative goodwill and any potential restructuring provisions related to the Acquisition, with both items being subject to final review and approval.

Finally, the regulatory capital treatment of the negative goodwill and, hence, its likely positive impact on the Company’s regulatory capital position is subject to review and approval by regulatory authorities.

To protect the public from possible misinformation and uncertainty regarding the company’s financial results for 9M2018, the lender has asked for the suspension of trading of its shares on the CSE until the 9M2018 results are published and their impact on the company’s regulatory capital position is finalised.

Source: Cyprus Mail

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