Nordea Backs Guidance After Third-Quarter Earnings Meet Expectations

By Dominic Chopping

Nordea Bank on Thursday backed its guidance after posting largely in line third-quarter earnings as net interest margins continued to improve and corporate lending grew.

The Helsinki-based bank posted net profit attributable to shareholders of 1.35 billion euros ($1.42 billion) compared with EUR1 billion in the same period a year earlier, as net interest income rose 36% to EUR1.91 billion.

A poll of analysts by FactSet had forecast net profit of EUR1.3 billion and net interest income of EUR1.88 billion.

"The Nordic societies have so far weathered the challenging conditions well, but we have now entered a period of more subdued economic activity," Chief Executive Frank Vang-Jensen said.

"Mortgage lending is holding up well given the softer housing markets...demand for corporate loans continued to grow, with lending increasing by 2% year on year."

Full-year 2023 return on equity is still expected to be above 15% and Nordea also maintained its full-year 2025 financial target of return on equity above 13%, supported by a cost-to-income ratio of 45%-47% and an annual net loan loss ratio of around 10 basis points.

Nordea's common equity Tier 1 ratio was 16.3% compared with 15.8% a year earlier.

Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 19, 2023 01:08 ET (05:08 GMT)

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