Depfa Bank's net profits fell 9 per cent to €249 million in the first half of 2007, as income from the bank's trading activities in global markets sharply declined.

The bank, which has its headquarters in Dublin, saw a €52 million negative swing year-on-year in its global markets division in the second quarter, making a pretax loss of €22 million on those activities in the second quarter of 2007. But overall second-quarter net profits of €126 million were a slight improvement on Depfa's first-quarter result and the bank's infrastructure financing activities were healthy, tripling its interest income to €19 million in the second quarter, compared with the same quarter in 2006.

Depfa attributed the infrastructure financing performance to the growing success of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in Europe and the US.

The bank closed 18 transactions in the second quarter, with a combined value of €1.6 billion in sectors such as ports, roads and healthcare.

The pretax profit from its infrastructure financing operation was €20 million in the second quarter, up €12 million on the same period last year.

The bank, which yesterday accepted a takeover bid from fellow German bank Hypo Real Estate, said it had also developed new sources of interest income from areas such as structured financing, securitisations and guaranteed investment contracts.

Its budget finance division secured new commitments of €14 billion in the second quarter, up €2 billion on last year. Total operating income in this area reached €197 million, an increase of €33 million year-on-year.

Total expenditure rose 25 per cent to €70 million, which Depfa said was a result of staff levels growing by 166 people to 723. Around 300 of its employees are based in Dublin.