BNP Paribas more than doubles 3rd quarter

French bank BNP Paribas more than doubled net profit in the third quarter to €1.32bn ($1.7bn), beating expectations, but this was partly because the comparable results last year were relatively weak, the group said in a statement yesterday. Net profit surged by 144%, but this was compared with the third quarter of last year when the bank made extra write-downs totalling €2.09bn on its holdings of Greek debt. The price of shares in the bank surged by 5.27% in early trading to €41.15. The bank said that an exceptional item this time round was a revaluation of debt, which set the results back by €774mn. This was matched in part by a difference between the purchase price and book value of assets in Fortis bank as a result of unexpectedly early repayments, which contributed €427mn. The net outcome was higher than expected by analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires who had expected a figure of €1.25bn.