Spain's Sabadell Q4 net profit more than doubles on one-off sales
MADRID, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Spain’s Banco Sabadell said on Friday its fourth-quarter net profit more than doubled from a year earlier due to one-off sales, though lending income remained under pressure because of ultra-low interest rates.
Net profit came in at 147.7 million euros ($184.5 million), slightly below analysts’ forecasts of 150 million euros in a Reuters poll.
Sabadell booked profits of 50 million euros related to the sale of HI Partners.
Its full-year net profit of 801.5 million euros was in line with its revised net profit target of 800 million euros but below forecasts of 804 millions.
Like its domestic competitors, the bank is struggling to lift earnings from loans as interest rates hover at historic lows and increasing competition erodes margins.
Sabadell, Spain’s fifth largest bank, said its net interest income, or profit from loans minus funding costs, fell 2.35 percent in the fourth quarter to 924.6 million euros, below forecasts of 932 million euros, and was 1.7 percent lower than the previous quarter.
Sabadell was one of the two banks to move registered headquarters out of the northeastern region of Catalonia to seek legal certainty as the region’s leaders pressed ahead with a secession campaign in October. ($1 = 0.8565 euros) (Reporting By Jesús Aguado; Editing by Sonya Dowsett and Subhranshu Sahu)