ABN Amro, battling to buy Italy's Banca Antonveneta, reported first-quarter earnings in line with its own raised estimates.
The Netherlands' biggest bank posted a net profit of €895 million versus €890 millionit predicted earlier in April and up from €825 million in the year-ago period.
"We're in uncharted territory because this is the first quarter reported under IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards). Overall there seems to be no reason for additional enthusiasm," said Jacob Bosscha, analyst at SNS Securities.
ABN Amro chief executive Rijkman Groenink said he was disappointed by the performance of the bank's wholesale clients division in the quarter, adding that improvement there will be a priority for the remainder of the year.
ABN Amro did not make any fresh comments on its showdown over Antonveneta, where it is fending off mounting opposition from smaller rival Banca Popolare di Lodi while awaiting permission for its 6.3 billion euro offer from Bank of Italy.
The Antonveneta offer by ABN Amro and a €6.2 billion bid by Spain's BBVA for Banca Nazionale del Lavoro are the strongest challenges yet to efforts by Bank of Italy governor Antonio Fazio to keep foreign banks out.
ABN Amro said operating profit before tax was €1.25 billion versus €1.1 billion a year ago thanks to higher returns on hedging, proprietary trading helped by a favourable euro and dollar yield curve and a higher release of provisions.
At the wholesale clients division, which is the midst of deep restructuring that includes 1,100 job cuts, net profit excluding special items slipped 12 per cent to €67 million.
ABN Amro pointed to a better picture at its Consumer and Commercial Clients unit, which includes retail operations in its home market and North America.
The division's net profit rose 26 per cent to €531 million , in part thanks to improved conditions in Brazil. Shares in ABN Amro are down 3 per cent since it announced its Antonveneta offer a month ago, slightly underperforming the DJ Stoxx European Banking index.