MILAN (Reuters) – Italy’s biggest bank Intesa Sanpaolo on Friday reported a smaller-than-expected drop in first quarter profit, as it put aside 0.8 billion euros ($847 million) to cover potential losses from its exposure to Russia.
Intesa said it now expected a 2022 net profit of more than 4 billion euros, compared with an estimate of more than 5 billion euros it provided in early February before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
It otherwise stuck to profit and payout goals it had set in February under a new plan through 2025.
Were it to further raise provisions on Russia and Ukraine to cover 40% of the exposure, the full-year net income would stand above 3 billion euros, it said.
Intesa reported net income of 1.02 billion euros for January-March, well above an average estimate of 709.4 million euros in a Reuters poll of eight analysts, helped by strong trading gains. ($1 = 0.9441 euros)
(Reporting by Valentina Za; Editing by Keith Weir)
