ABN AMRO ramps up guidance
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (Reuters) -- Top Dutch bank ABN AMRO on Friday ramped up its 2003 guidance as robust retail operations and recovering investment banking helped it post a higher than expected 41 percent jump in quarterly net profit.
Announcing a record third-quarter operating profit, the Netherlands' biggest bank predicted a 25 percent rise in 2003 net profit to over three billion euros -- above its previous guidance of a 15 percent full-year profit increase.
Third-quarter net profit of 832 million euros topped even the most optimistic of analysts' forecasts. Earnings per share were 0.51 euro versus an average forecast of 0.43 and operating profit 1.63 billion euros, above the expected 1.46 billion.
"This achievement can be attributed to the stable and resilient income stream from our commercial and retail activities, and to the progress made in our wholesale clients (unit),'' Chief Executive Rijkman Groenink said in a statement.
Twelve analysts polled by Reuters had expected ABN AMRO on average to report third-quarter net earnings of 697.6 million euros, up from 591 million in the year-ago period.
The most international of Dutch banks with branches in more than 60 countries, ABN AMRO has faced hard times head on with a billion-euro restructuring that included slashing 10,000 jobs.
Its shares have gained around 20 percent this year compared to an 18 percent rise in the sector index. Its market capitalisation is around 28 billion euros. In the third quarter of 2002, ABN AMRO made profit of 0.37 euro per share on total revenue of 4.32 billion euros, with operating income at 1.32 billion euros.
Strong mortgage activity in the United States, where ABN AMRO generates a large chunk of its earnings, helped results -- though analysts warn that U.S. mortgage business has started to slow in recent months and say that could start to show up in ABN AMRO's results from the fourth quarter.
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