The Serbian unit of Austrian Hypo Alpe-Adria-Leasing reported on
Wednesday its net profit rose 2.3 times to €19m in 2007, according
to a report by SeeNews.

At a news conference, head of Hypo Alpe-Adria Leasing Serbia,
Vladimir Jamsek said the unit saw a 45 per cent increase in leasing
contracts and attributed profit growth partly to reinvestment of
profits in the market. He said shareholders did not receive a
dividend last year.
Jamsek, also hit out at Serbia’s restrictive monetary policies and
pointed out the dwindling number of customers.

“In 51 per cent of the cases, leasing is used for buying cars,
in 31 per cent for buying equipment, while in 18 per cent for real
estate,” SeeNews quoted him as saying.

There are 17 leasing companies active in Serbia as at the end of
March. The Serbian unit of Hypo Alpe-Adria-Leasing ranked first in
market share at the end of last year, with a 29.4 per cent
stake.
Serbia’s central bank raised its key repo rate last week to 15.75
per cent from 15.25 per cent to reflect increased inflationary
expectations. It has a core inflation target range of 3 per cent to
6 per cent by the end of the year.

Core inflation, which measures consumer prices that are not
administered by the government, speeded up to show an annual
increase of 8 per cent in April after rising 7 per cent in
March.