BNP misses Q4 forecasts on AXA charge

BNP Paribas, France's biggest listed bank, missed forecasts for fourth-quarter profit on Thursday after it abooked a 534 million euro (USD 722.6 million) charge on the value of its stake in insurer AXA.

BNP blamed the surprise one-off charge on "highly volatile" post-crisis stock markets that had taken AXA shares below their book value. BNP owns 5.2% of AXA, Reuters data showed.

Overall 2010 results for BNP saw revenues and profits rise on the back of the bank's strong retail bank and integration of Belgium-focused crisis acquisition Fortis. The group raised its Fortis synergy target to 1.2 billion euros, from 900 million.

For 2011, BNP expects a "slight decline" in loan-loss provisions in key Europe markets like France, Belgium and Italy as the risk environment improves, Chief Executive Baudouin Prot told Reuters television, adding acquisitions were not a focus.

"I'll be very blunt; at the moment, we are not very acquisitive," Baudouin Prot said in an interview. "This year we will concentrate on organic growth."

BNP reported fourth-quarter net income of 1.55 billion euros, up 13.6%. Consensus forecasts had been expecting 1.73 billion, according to a Reuters poll of 11 analysts.

Group revenues rose 2.6% in the quarter, to 10.3 billion euros, missing forecasts of 10.5 billion.

Shares of BNP hit an 11-month high on Wednesday after smaller rival Societe Generale whipped up investor enthusiasm with its own results. SocGen met forecasts with a near-quadrupling of net profit.

Like SocGen, BNP said it would raise its dividend, to 2.1 euros per share, from 1.5 euros in 2009.