It said the actual profit figure would only be revealed on Feb. 27 but said the profit was higher then expected. NLB had said in May it expected profit of about 15 million euros ($17.09 million) in 2014. "This is a breakthrough for the bank ... which managed to stabilise its business in 2014 and has been increasing operating profit through all four quarters of the year," NLB said.

The bank was rescued by the state in December 2013 when it received a capital injection of 1.55 billion euros. It narrowly failed a European Central Bank stress test in October which revealed that the bank would have a capital shortfall of 34.3 million euros at the end of 2016 under an adverse scenario.

NLB had said it would cover the shortfall with 2014 profits. NLB made a profit of 48 million euros in the first nine months of 2014 after making a loss of 1.44 billion in 2013.

The Slovenian government had to pour more than 3 billion euros into the country's mostly state-owned local banks in 2013, including NLB, to prevent them collapsing under a large amount of bad loans. This helped Slovenia to avoid international bailout.

Reuters