UTRECHT (AFP) — Dutch-Belgian financial group Fortis said Friday 2007 net profit fell 8.2 percent after it took a 1.5 billion euros (2.3 billion dollar) hit because of the US subprime home loan crisis.
"(This result) is based on a prudent approach to impairments, using stringent assumptions on super senior collaterized debt obligations (CDOs) with subprime exposure," Fortis said in a statement.
Fortis said it had a 2007 net profit of 3.9 billion euros but this included 900 million euros from the sale of its CaiFor unit to Spanish bank Caixa.
Excluding this exceptional gain left a net profit 3.06 billion euros, a 30 percent drop compared to the 2006 figure.
Together with its partners Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Spain's Santander, Fortis recently took over Dutch bank ABN Amro, for a record sum of around 71 billion euros.
"The transition and integration process is fully on track, assumptions regarding synergies and profit contribution have been confirmed," Fortis said.
For the 76 days Fortis consolidated ABN Amro earnings in its own performance, the acquisition contributed 179 million euros to the group's results.
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