Dutch bank ABN Amro said today it expected a first-quarter profit of about €890 million.
The is higher than the bank had forecast in March and compared with €825 million under IFRS accounting standards in 2004.
ABN Amro, the biggest bank in The Netherlands and which has proposed a takeover of Italian bank Antonveneta, said it expected a first-quarter operating profit of €1.340 billion compared with €1.331 billion under IFRS accounting standards in the same period of 2004.
The operating result for the first quarter of 2004 excludes results from discontinued operations, such as LeasePlan and the Bank of Asia, as these are now a separate line under IFRS.
Results in the year-go period include €115 million in proceeds from the sale of the stake in Bank Austria. ABN AMRO said on March 30th it expected the first-quarter net profit under IFRS to be in line with the year-ago period, excluding the gain from the Bank Austria stake sale of €115 million and the €46 million contribution of LeasePlan in the 2004 first quarter.
The raised first quarter forecast are due to better results in consumer and commercial clients banking, wholesale banking for enterprises as well as private equity, the bank said.
The update, based on confirmed results for January and February 2005 and a forecast for March, follows on the March 30th results update that accompanied the announcement of the planned acquisition of Italian bank Banca Antonveneta.