CAIXY Caixabank (PK)

By Justina Lee and Edward Frankl

Spain's CaixaBank SA said Friday that its fourth-quarter profit rose 62% compared with the same period a year earlier, thanks to higher net interest income.

The bank reported net profit of 688 million euros ($750.6 million) over October to December, beating analysts' expectations for net profit of EUR632 million, according to a consensus forecast provided by the bank.

The Spanish bank said net interest income stood at EUR2.07 billion, up 33% from a year earlier, and compared with EUR1.89 billion expected by analysts.

Net interest income, a key driver of revenue for retail banks such as CaixaBank, is the difference between how much a bank earns on clients' loans and how much it pays clients for their deposits.

The bank's strong capital position has allowed it to pay shareholders a dividend of EUR1.7 billion, said José Ignacio Goirigolzarri, Chairman of CaixaBank.

"This amount, added to the EUR1.8 billion invested in the share buyback programme, raises the total capital distributed to shareholders to EUR3.5 billion," he said.

"We are in the right path to reach our target to distribute up to EUR9 billion in the 2022-2024 period," he added.

The lender declared a 2022 dividend of 23.06 European cents, up from 14.63 European cents in 2021.

Write to Justina Lee at justina.lee@wsj.com and Ed Frankl at edward.frankl@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 03, 2023 01:27 ET (06:27 GMT)

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