BNP Paribas Q4 profit beats forecasts on lower charges
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2/17/10PARIS (Reuters) – BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA) posted higher fourth-quarter profits that beat market forecasts and France’s biggest listed bank struck a relatively confident note despite the economic uncertainty clouding the banking industry.
Net profit rose to 1.365 billion euros ($1.9 billion), helped by a lower-than-expected charge for bad debts, higher earnings at its investment bank and the acquired Fortis assets.
Chief executive Baudouin Prot said on Wednesday he expected the cost of risk to fall this year, and that BNP had a relatively small exposure to Greece’s economic problems.
“Altogether we would expect the cost of risk at group level this year to be a bit lower than last year,” Prot told CNBC television.
A Reuters poll had found a net profit forecast of 1.06 billion euros.
BNP raised its dividend on Wednesday to 1.50 euros from 1 euro last year.
BNP Paribas is the first of France’s top banks to post fourth-quarter results with the sector still weighed down by writedowns on toxic assets, the debt woes of Greece and a political backlash against bankers’ bonuses.
Rival Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) publishes results on Thursday while Credit Agricole (CAGR.PA) and BPCE (CNAT.PA) report next week.
The global banking sector has so far seen a mixed set of figures, with higher profits at Barclays (BARC.L), Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX) and JP Morgan (JPM.N) contrasting with losses at Citigroup (C.N) and Bank of America (BAC.N) and client withdrawals at UBS (UBSN.VX). [ID:nLDE61E0QU] [ID:nLDE61802M]
European bancassurance group ING (ING.AS) also posted a bigger-than-expected fourth quarter loss of 712 million euros on Wednesday although, like BNP, ING had a smaller-than-expected loan-loss provision. [ID:nWEB0458]
BNP Paribas shares closed up 2.8 percent at 49.20 euros on Tuesday. The stock, which rose 90 percent in 2009, has fallen 12 percent so far this year while the DJ Stoxx European bank index .SX7P has fallen around 10 percent. (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Marcel Michelson and Dan Lalor) ($1 = 0.7326 euro)
