MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo (MI:ISP) on Wednesday topped profit forecasts for the third-quarter helped by a post-lockdown rebound in core revenues, and hit its goal for the year net of the boost from the acquisition of rival UBI.
Intesa in August won a strenuous takeover battle for UBI, snapping up Italy's healthiest second-tier lender in a 4 billion euro (3.6 billion pounds) deal that cemented its domestic dominance, especially in the country's wealthy north.
Intesa reaped a paper profit equal to 3.3 billion euros on a provisional basis from having bought UBI at a discount to the target's book value, for a stated net profit of 3.8 billion in the period.
Stripped of the accounting boost and the contribution from UBI in August and September, net profit stood at 507 million euros in the three months through September.
That compared with 1.04 billion euros a year ago and an average 466 million euro forecast in a Reuters analyst survey.
In the first nine months net profit totalled 3.1 billion euros, in line with the target set for 2020 without taking into account the UBI deal.
