Deutsche Bank hits forecast
FRANKFURT, Germany (Reuters) -- Deutsche Bank, Germany's biggest bank, reported a fourth-quarter net profit of 436 million euros ($547 million) on Thursday, in line with market consensus, and raised its 2003 dividend.
Twenty-four analysts polled by Reuters had forecast the bank's net profit in a range from 280 million euros to 598 million euros at an average 432 million. The bank had a net profit of 576 million in the third quarter.
Deutsche Bank, whose chief executive Josef Ackermann is again due to appear in court on Friday as part of an ongoing trial over his role in paying allegedly unlawful bonuses to managers at Mannesmann, said it would pay shareholders a dividend of 1.50 euros a share for 2003, up from 1.30 in 2002.
A source told Reuters earlier on Thursday that Deutsche had held exploratory talks last month about a takeover by U.S. giant Citigroup, the world's largest bank.
"The talks were warmed up but have cooled down again," a source familiar with the situation said. "There is silence now."
The Financial Times reported earlier that Deutsche Bank had broken off the talks because it believed a deal would be politically impossible.
Deutsche gave no forecast for 2004. Its shares have dropped four percent since January 1, while Europe's banking sector has risen 1.3 percent in the same time.
Deutsche, which runs a private and corporate clients business but makes most of its money in international investment banking, said fourth-quarter pretax profit slid to 676 million euros from 755 million in the third quarter.
It ended the full-year 2003 with a net profit of 1.4 billion euros and posted a pretax profit of 2.8 billion, both in line with the average of analyst forecasts.
Provisions for loan losses in the year nearly halved to 1.1 billion euros from 2.1 billion after it cut its exposure to Germany's stagnating economy by shrinking its loan portfolio.
Deutsche's Tier 1 capital ratio -- an indicator of its financial strength -- was at a comfortable 10.0 percent at the end of 2003, well above its eight-to-nine percent target range, giving it room to return excess capital to investors by continuing its existing share buyback program.
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