UniCredit SpA’s third-quarter net profit soared, surpassing analysts’ expectations, as the bank completes its strategic plan
The improved earnings were expected as they come against a previous-year quarter that was hit by an impairment related to the lender’s stake in Turkish bank Yapi Kredi and provisions. However, net profit grew more than analysts had forecast.
Net profit for the period was 1.10 billion euros ($1.22 billion) compared with a profit of EUR29 million a year earlier, the bank UCG, +6.45% said Thursday. On an adjusted basis, which excludes one-offs, net profit rose almost 26% on year.
Revenue rose 1.7% to EUR4.70 billion.
Analysts had expected a net profit of EUR1.03 billion on revenue of EUR4.58 billion, according to a consensus forecast provided by the bank.
Net interest income — the difference between what lenders earn from loans and pay for deposits, and a key profit driver for retail banks — fell 5% to EUR2.56 billion.
Fees and commissions rose 3%, while trading income was up 29%.
The results come as Italy’s largest bank gears up for a new plan that it will present in December. Under the current strategy, it sold assets, cut costs and disposed of bad loans worth billions of euros. It also raised EUR13 billion of fresh capital.
The bank confirmed its cost and revenue guidance for the year.
“With yet another strong quarter we have successfully delivered Transform 2019,” Chief Executive Jean Pierre Mustier said.
“We have already met or will exceed our key targets by the end of this year,”