Intesa Sanpaolo 3Q Net Profit Rises Above Expectations

Intesa Sanpaolo SpA (ISP.MI) said Tuesday that third-quarter net profit grew slightly, supported by lower provisions for bad loans combined with higher income from fees and commissions.

The Italian bank's net profit increased 3.5% to 650 million euros ($754.3 million) compared with the same period last year. Net interest income declined to EUR1.81 billion from EUR1.86 billion, while income from fees and commissions increased 11% to EUR1.95 billion.

Analysts had expected the bank to post net profit of EUR589 million, according to FactSet.

The bank had operating costs of EUR2.32 billion, up from EUR2.12 billion the previous year, while its provisions for bad loans shrank to EUR643 million from EUR917 million.

Earlier this year, the lender took part in the rescue of two Italian regional banks that went bust.

The Italian government liquidated the regional banks' bad assets, while Intesa Sanpaolo bought the good ones for one euro. The deal included a public contribution to Intesa of about EUR3.5 billion to offset the impact of the transaction on its capital ratios.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 07, 2017 08:15 ET (13:15 GMT)