Bank of Cyprus has been absent from the Athens stock market for almost eleven years and six months.
However, this is expected to change, as the “renewed” and freed from the burdens of the multi-year crisis bank is expected to get listed again on the Athens stock exchange as soon as September.
The comeback bears a specific name, that of Panikos Nikolaos, who has been at the “helm” of the historic bank (founded in 1899) for the last five years.
He assumed the role of CEO in 2019 leading the bank in profitability while significantly reducing the non-performing loans and enhancing capital adequacy. Meanwhile, Moody’s has given the Bank of Cyprus a Baa1 rating, i.e. two notches above investment grade.
The management has recently upgraded the targets for the two years 2024-2025, expecting a rote return on tangible equity (ROTE) of more than 19% and announcing a dividend distribution of up to 50% of its profits that reached 488 million euros in 2023 compared to losses of 67 million euros in 2019 and 102 million euros in 2018.
Bank worth 2 billion euros
The bank’s stock, which trades in both Nicosia and London (it will leave the LSE before its listing on the Athens stock exchange), has seen an impressive rally of over +50% in the last 12 months and enjoys a market capitalization of 2 billion euros.
