By Cristina Roca

Intesa Sanpaolo SpA will target higher earnings and profitability and plans to return 22 billion euros ($25.16 billion) to shareholders between 2021 and 2025 as part of its new business plan, the bank said Friday as it reported a swing to a fourth-quarter profit.

Italy's largest bank by assets said it expects its net profit to grow to EUR6.5 billion in 2025. It posted a EUR4.19 billion net profit in 2021.

Intesa will also aim for its return on tangible equity--a key metric of profitability--to go up to 13.9% in 2025 from 9.1% in 2021.

Its capital distribution plan will consist of cash dividends with a payout ratio of 70%--the same as its current policy--plus a EUR3.4 billion buyback in 2022, Intesa said.

For 2021, Intesa will pay EUR1.5 billion in dividends, adding to an interim dividend paid in November.

In the last quarter of 2021, Intesa posted a net profit of EUR179 million compared with a EUR3.1 billion loss a year earlier.

Quarterly operating income fell 1.4% to EUR5.02 billion.

Write to Cristina Roca at cristina.roca@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 04, 2022 02:35 ET (07:35 GMT)

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