Danske Bank posted a 33 per cent rise in first-quarter pretax profit amid divestments and consolidation of its Irish acquisitions.
Pretax profit at Denmark's biggest financial group rose to 4.2 billion Danish crowns ($726 million), above an average forecast of 3.5 billion crowns in a Reuters poll of analysts.
Danske attributed the better-than-expected result to one-off revenues from the sale of its corporate loan portfolio by its UK subsidiary and the consolidation of banking activities in Northern Ireland and Ireland one month earlier than expected.
In December, Danske bought two Irish banks - Northern Bank and National Irish Bank - from National Australia Bank (NAB) for 10.4 billion crowns, in its first major push outside its Nordic home market.
The two banks are consolidated into Danske's figures as of March 1st. The migration of data systems and the general integration of the two banks are expected to be completed by the end of 2006. Estimated integration costs remain unchanged at 1.5 billion crowns.
The group reversed 126 million crowns in provisions previously made for loan losses. Analysts had on average expected loan losses of 148 million crowns.
Danske Bank repeated that it expects full-year 2005 pretax profit to be level with last year's 13.0 billion crowns despite the better-than-expected start to the year.
The bank said that the 2004 result included considerable one-off items and that pretax profit this year will be affected by a 450 million crown amortisation in connection with the Irish acquisitions.