Banco Sabadell sees 1st half profits rise 37%

 

Spain's Banco Sabadell on Thursday posted a €123.4- million net profit for the first half of the 2013, beating analyst expectations after big gains from financial transactions, such as trading operations.

Profits were up 37% on a year ago.

Sabadell's net interest income, a closely-watched measure of income from loans, came in at €865.8 million in the period - 1.4% higher than in the first half of 2012 but below the €891.1 million forecast in a Reuters poll.

Overall provisions against losses fell 43%, but the bank set aside €321 million to account for provisions it expects to arise from reclassifying some of its refinanced loans to non-performing ones, as instructed by the Bank of Spain.