"The growth of net profit was driven by the development of lending operations, revenues from securities, and also by the group's expansion through acquisitions," VTB said in its consolidated financial statements placed on its Web site Thursday.
VTB, with a shareholder equity of $5.97 billion as of March 31, 2006, said its consolidated pre-tax profit had risen 280%, year-on-year, in the first quarter of 2006 to $375 million.
"The pre-tax profit rise in the first quarter of 2006 was driven by considerable growth in net interest income resulting from larger payments on loans extended to clients, incomes from securities transactions minus expenditures, revenues from foreign exchange re-valuation and an increase in fees," VTB said.
VTB, whose principal shareholder is the Russian government with a 99.9% stake, said its assets rose 11.1% in the reporting period to $40.8 billion.
