Santander profit soars to 1bn euros
Spain's Banco Santander posted a third-quarter profit of 1.06 billion euros (£901.7 million) today - a near nine-fold increase from last year, when the government had forced it to take major provisions to cover soured real estate loans.
The largest bank by market value in the 17-country eurozone said profit in the July-September period rose from 122 million euros (£103.8 million) a year earlier. Gross income dropped to 9.74 billion euros (£8.29 billion) from 10.71 billion euros (£9.11 billion).
Santander president Emilio Botin said that, after years of making provisions for bad investments, the bank was now in a position to build profits.
For the first nine months, net profit jumped 77% to 3.3 billion euros (£2.8 billion).
Shares rose 0.5% to 6.6 euros (£5.61) in morning trading in Madrid today.
AP