MILAN (Reuters) -Italy’s BPER Banca reported a 29.5% year-on-year rise in first-half net profit, driven by strong fee income that offset pressure on its net interest margin.
Italy’s fourth-largest lender posted a net profit of 903.5 million euros ($1 billion) for the January-June period from 724.2 million euro a year earlier.
The earnings follows BPER’s recent completion of a 5.44 billion euro takeover bid of rival Banca Popolare di Sondrio.
The two lenders partners in insurance with Unipol which is the main shareholder in both and backed the project. With Italy’s banking sector consolidating, BPER said it had to bid for Popolare di Sondrio as a defensive move to preserve its market positioning.
BPER upgraded its standalone full-year guidance, now expecting total revenues of around 5.5 billion euros, from a previous forecast of 5.4 billion euros.($1 = 0.8637 euros)
(Reporting by Andrea Mandalà; Editing by Valentina Za)
