BNP Paribas record €901m profit in Q3

by Richard Kilner

Story link: BNP Paribas record €901m profit in Q3

The directors of French bank BNP Paribas met on Tuesday to review the bank’s performance in Q3 of 2008, and for the first nine months of the year.

Net profit of €901m was achieved in the third quarter.

Compared to the previous quarter, Q3 showed a marked improvement, although a comparison with Q3 of 2007 was less flattering.

On a quarterly basis, revenue rose by 1.3% to €7,614m, with gross operating income up by 11.8% to €2,979m.

However, compared to Q3 of 2007, revenues were 1% lower, and gross operating income was 2.2%.

The annual comparison is unsurprising given the worsening economic climate across the world, but the improved quarterly results show that the bank is improving from a previous low.

In the first nine months of the year revenue reached €22,526m, down 6.6%, with a cost/income ratio up by 4.2% from the first three quarters of 2007 to 62.6%.

Earnings per share were down by over a third (36.8%) to €4.7.