BBVA Group Q1 Profit Down 53.8% - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - BBVA Group (BBVA) reported net attributable profit for the first quarter of 709 million euros, down 53.8 percent from 1.54 billion euros in the prior-year period. Earnings per share fell to 0.10 euros from 0.23 euros last year.

The latest quarter's results were negatively impacted by exchange rates, lower results from NTI and the lack of corporate operations. The year-ago quarter's results were bolstered by the partial sale of the BBVA Group's stake in Chinese bank CNCB.

Excluding corporate operations, net attributable profit was 709 million euros, down from 953 million euros in the year-ago period.

Gross income for the quarter was 5.79 billion euros, up 2.8 percent from the year-ago period. At constant exchange rates the increase was 14.9 percent.

Net interest income for the quarter grew 13.3 percent to 4.15 billion euros from 3.66 billion euros in the year-ago period.

BBVA CEO Carlos Torres Vila pointed to "the strong capital position, the evolution of recurrent revenues, the contribution of emerging markets and lower impairment losses in Spain.

"This trend, together with the seasonal effect of the banking activity, indicates that results will continue to grow gradually throughout 2016," he said.