BRIEF-Danske Bank Q1 pretax profit beats forecast, maintains 2017 outlook
April 28 Danske Bank A/S:
* Q1 net profit 5.5 billion DKK versus 4.46 billion seen in Reuters poll (4.9 BLN DKK in Q1 2016)
* Q1 net interest income 5.7 billion DKK versus 5.68 billion seen in Reuters poll (5.26 bln DKK in Q1 2016)
* Q1 net trading income 2.7 billion DKK versus 1.88 billion seen in Reuters poll (1.60 bln DKK in Q1 2016)
* Q1 pretax profit 7.14 billion DKK versus 5.98 billion seen in Reuters poll (6.27 bln DKK in Q1 2016)
* Says return on shareholders' equity of 14.4 percent
* Repeats expect net profit for 2017 to be in range of DKK 17-19 billion (EUR 2,285.6-2,554.5 million)
* Says we maintain our longer-term ambition for a return on shareholders' equity of at least 12.5 percent
* Says loan impairment charges remained low, with net reversals of DKK 0.2 billion (EUR 31.6 million) in Q1 of 2017
* CEO Thomas Borgen says the Nordic economies are generally doing better, and this benefited our performance
* Borgen says loan impairments in 2017 are expected to remain low, although higher than in 2016
* "Driven especially by our activities in Norway and Sweden, aggregate lending grew 1% in the first quarter of 2017 and was 4% higher than lending for the year-earlier period" Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage: (Reporting by Stine Jacobsen and Nikolaj Skydsgaard)