Yes they look very cheap at current prices. I haven't followed...

Yes they look very cheap at current prices. I haven't followed them for a while but there is one main concern.

The KBC balance sheet is geared roughly 50% from memory. Since their annoucement of the reduced earnings a couple of months ago there has been a massive deterioration in asset values worldwide. KBC lends against assets - planes, ships, infrastructure and resource companies etc, all of which are getting a pasting.

If some KBC borrowers default, it is likely KBC won't recover much as they are mainly taking mezzanine and equity stakes as investments.

If KBC's asset base falls by 50%, shareholders will get 0 due to its 50% gearing. In todays troubled times that is a possibility.

I would prefer to wait until the next quaterly update and if its positive buy in at 20c rather than buy at 10c now and see it fall to 2c if the quarterly update is bad.