UBI's second quarter profit rises 82% year-on-year on one-offs, lower loan losses

MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's UBI Banca <UBI.MI> on Monday posted a 82% rise in second-quarter net profit thanks to one-off gains and lower provisions against loan losses, which more the offset weakening revenues.

UBI Banca's net profit came in at 90.7 million euros (81.6 million pounds) versus 50 million in the same period of last year.

The bank put aside 180.8 million euros against loan losses in the second quarter after writing down loans which are not yet in default for 50 million euros due to COVID-19 in the first quarter, when net lot writedowns totalled 155.6 million euros.

Revenues fell 2.9 year-on-year to 882 million euro due to a lower net interest margin and easing fees despite higher trading gains.

Intesa Sanpaolo <ISP.MI> successfully concluded its takeover bid for UBI last week securing 90.2% of its target's shares to create the euro zone's seventh-largest bank.

Intesa plans to delist UBI and merge it into the group to maximise savings and achieve a target of around 700 million euros in synergies from 2024.

(Reporting by Andrea Mandalà; editing by Valentina Za)