Bid target Banco BPM raises 2025 guidance after strong first quarter

MILAN (Reuters) -Banco BPM raised its 2025 guidance after a bigger-than-expected 38% rise in first quarter net profit thanks to rising fee and trading income which offset a decline in the net interest margin, it said on Wednesday.

The bank, the target of a 13.8 billion euro all-share offer from UniCredit, reported a net profit of 510.7 million euros ($580.5 million) in the January-March period, up from 370 million a year earlier.

That compared with an analyst consensus forecast compiled by Reuters of 445 million euros.

Net interest margin declined by 5.5% year-on-year in the first three months as the gap between lending and deposit rates shrinks.

Banco BPM said it now expected a net profit of 1.95 billion euros in 2025 from previous target of 1.7 billion euros. ($1 = 0.8798 euros)

(Reporing by Andrea MandalàEditing by Gianluca Semeraro and Keith Weir)