The National Asset Management Agency saw its first-half earnings quadruple as it began to free up money set aside to cover bad loans.

Nama’s profit was on a par with the €458 million earned in the whole of 2014, chief executive Brendan McDonagh said in an interview yesterday.

Profit amounted to €102 million in the first half of 2014 and to €129.4 million in the first three months of this year.

Lifetime-profit target

Nama will review its current €1 billion lifetime-profit target at the end of the year, he said.

In the first half, the agency freed up €25 million of impairment provisions, Mr McDonagh said.

The agency had set aside about €4.3 billion of provisions for bad loans over the past five years.

“The days of big impairment charges are hopefully behind us,” he said.

Nama is on track this year to redeem €5.5 billion of senior State-guaranteed bonds it originally issued to banks as payment for loans, Mr McDonagh said. This will mean that 73 per cent of the notes will be repurchased by the end of the year. Bond redemptions will be helped as Nama sells further assets.

These include a portfolio of mainly non-performing loans with a nominal value of €7.6 billion, known as Project Arrow, which the agency expects to divest this year.

Nama has received 10 bids for Project Jewel, a portfolio of loans linked to shopping centres including the Dundrum Town Centre in Dublin, Mr McDonagh said. – (Bloomberg)