Commerzbank doubles first-quarter profit despite Ukraine conflict

FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Commerzbank's first-quarter profit more than doubled even as it increased provisions and writedowns as a result of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, it said on Tuesday.

The German lender stood by its profit outlook for the full year as it made an unexpected preliminary earnings announcement of first-quarter net profit at 284 million euros ($303 million), up from 133 million euros a year earlier.

It said that operating profit of 544 million euros "significantly exceeds" analysts expectations.

The bank said revenue improved in all business areas, but it increased its provisions and writedowns to 464 million euros in the quarter because of the conflict in Ukraine. That compares with 149 million euros a year ago.

"The economic consequences of the Russian war against Ukraine have impacted on our risk result. We are sticking by our targets for the year as a whole," Chief Executive Manfred Knof said in a statement.

The bank publishes full results on May 12.

($1 = 0.9378 euro)

(Reporting by Tom Sims and Frank SiebeltEditing by David Goodman)