Spain's CaixaBank 3Q Profit Nearly Doubles on Strong Net Interest Income

CaixaBank SA (CABK.MC) said Tuesday its third-quarter net profit nearly doubled, beating analyst expectations.

Third-quarter net profit was 649 million euros ($763 million), compared with EUR332 million in the same period last year. According to a FactSet consensus forecast, CaixaBank was expected to post net profit of EUR485 million.

Third-quarter net interest income--the difference between what banks earn on loans and pay clients for deposit--was EUR1.2 billion and fee and commission income was EUR615 million.

However, recent acquisitions mean the Spanish bank didn't provide direct comparisons for the same period a year ago. In February 2017, the bank took over Portugal's Banco BPI SA (BPI.LB) in a EUR644.5 million deal which took CaixaBank's stake in BPI to above 84%.

For the nine-month period CaixaBank's net profit grew 53% to EUR1.49 billion. Net interest income, a primary source of revenue for commercial banks like CaixaBank, grew 15% to EUR3.55 billion. Net fee and commission income stood at EUR1.87 billion, compared with EUR1.55 billion in the same period last year.

CaixaBank recently moved its legal headquarters out of Catalonia in light of political tension related to the separatist push in the region. One of the key issues for the bank, analysts at UBS say, is "to what extent recent events end up representing a loss of (full) client relationships."

CaixaBank's fully loaded CET1 ratio, a key measure of capital strength, notched up to 11.7% from 11.5% in the previous quarter.

Write to Pietro Lombardi at pietro.lombardi@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 24, 2017 03:20 ET (07:20 GMT)