UniCredit Reports First-Quarter Profit of EUR907 Million

UniCredit SPA (UCG.MI) posted a first-quarter net profit after reporting a large fourth-quarter loss, which reflected a clean-up of its balance sheet designed to strengthen its capital base and increase profitability.

The bank said its first-quarter profit was EUR907 million, compared with a year-earlier profit of EUR406 million. In the fourth quarter, the bank reported a loss of EUR13.56 billion.

The fourth-quarter loss was mainly the result of EUR12.2 billion in one-time charges for bad-loan provisions and other items.

In February, the bank successfully completed a EUR13 billion rights issue, one of the biggest-ever transactions of its kind in Europe.

For the first quarter, provisions for bad loans stood at EUR670 million compared with EUR760 million in the year-earlier period.

Net interest income dropped by 2.5% to EUR2.56 billion, while fees and commissions were up to EUR1.48 billion.

The bank is pushing to generate higher fees and commissions to compensate for dropping proceeds from its lending activity, which has been severely hit by low and negative interest rates.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 11, 2017 01:40 ET (05:40 GMT)