NAMA records €247m profit for 2011

The National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) has revealed in its annual report that it made a profit of €247m after tax in 2011.

This compares to a 2010 loss of €1.18bn.

The agency made an operating profit, before loan impairment charges, of €1.28bn in 2011, up from the €305m profit recorded last year.

The agency acquired a further €2.8bn worth of loans last year, bringing the total to €74bn, for which NAMA paid the banks €35bn - representing a discount of 57%.

Brendan McDonagh, Chief Executive of the Agency, said that 2011 was a year of great progress for NAMA.

Mr McDonagh said: "The agency made a profit for the taxpayer. We successfully completed the first phase of our operations – acquiring loans from participating institutions - and our focus now is on generating the best possible return from these loans.

"We have also completed the review of all Debtor Business Plans. Cashflow generation is vitally important for NAMA and remains very strong.

"The task before us is significant but I am optimistic that NAMA will succeed in doing the job set out for it by the Oireachtas."

Mr McDonagh said that after 27 months in operation, the agency was starting to see movement in the Dublin property market.

“We are seeing evidence on the ground,” he said. “We are seeing real real transactions. We never expected to see a V-shaped recovery but we do see the market bottoming out, particularly in Dublin.”

Its annual report showed that 90% of its €17.5bn Irish property portfolio was in or around counties with large urban centres such as the greater Dublin area, Cork, Limerick and Galway.

Some €11bn alone was in Dublin and €2bn in Cork.

There was also an €11bn portfolio in Britain, with €6bn located in London.

In the North, the portfolio was worth €1.3bn and included about €600m in Belfast.

Overseas there were loans linked to €1bn of property in Germany and more than €400m in the US, with the bulk of the remainder in Portugal, France and Belgium.

Nama said it had taken control of €74bn worth of loans, after it brought in another €2.8bn.

It said it had approved asset sales of €9.2bn, with sales of€5bn by the end of May, with a further €2bn in the pipeline.

Fianna Fáil finance spokesman Michael McGrath said the profit figures put out by Nama did not tell anything.

“I welcome the fact that Nama is reporting an after tax profit for 2011 of €247m, (but) this measure doesn’t really tell us a whole lot,” he said.

“Nama is a vast agency and its financial success in managing a loan book with a value of €74bn can only really be gauged towards the latter part of the agency’s 10-year life span.”

Read the article @ The Irish Examiner

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