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ING –Citi aumenta price target para 30€

ING –UBS aumenta price target em 17% para 30.5 euros

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ING – Rabo Bank aumenta price target de €27.5 para €30.

ING Groep: o maior grupo financeiro holandês anunciou que os lucros do 3Q2005
aumentaram de forma inesperada para os EUR 1,88 mil mn (+21% YoY),
impulsionados pelo crescimento da divisão de online banking e pelo bom
desempenho manifestado pelo negócio segurador. Este registo superou claramente
os EUR 1,36 mil mn antecipados pelo consenso de analistas.

UPDATE 3-ING's Q3 trumps forecasts, bullish on full year
Thu Nov 10, 2005 3:39 AM ET

(Adds more quotes, analysts, shares)

By Karl Emerick Hanuska

AMSTERDAM, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Dutch financial services group ING Groep NV <ING.AS> posted a forecast-beating 21 percent jump in third-quarter net profit on Thursday, fuelled by solid results at its U.S. business, and said it was upbeat on the rest of 2005.

"The strong underlying performance of the business was underpinned by favourable market conditions, including investment gains and historically low credit losses both for bank lending and fixed-income investments," Chief Executive Michel Tilmant said in a statement.

"We see no sign yet of a deterioration in the credit environment, however risk costs are expected to gradually return to normal levels," added the CEO of the group, which is one of the top five insurers in Europe.

ING's <ING.N> net profit in the quarter rose to 1.878 billion euros ($2.20 billion), trumping expectations that ranged from 1.10 billion and 1.51 billion euros in a Reuters poll of 10 analysts.

Pretax profit was 2.353 billion euros, boosted in part by a one-off gain of 349 million euros over the first nine months, up from 1.884 billion a year earlier.

ING shares added more than 2 percent in opening trade, although some suggested that the quality of the results was less than perfect.

"You have to ask yourself if these results are sustainable. ING Direct is a real jewel in the crown this time round. But ING have a large gain in the quarter due to IFRS and the tax rate is lower than expected," said one dealer.

"They've also got a big gain in private equity, the bad debt provisions are low and there are notable credit releases in U.S. Life."


50 COUNTRIES

The group, which has operations in more than 50 countries, said its insurance unit posted a net profit of 977 million euros and its banking unit a net profit of 901 million.

"Underlying results in the third quarter were particularly strong, resulting in a record profit," Tilmant said. He attributed the result to the performance of the company's growth engines of retirement services, life insurance in developing markets and its Internet bank, ING Direct.

"ING Direct's profit grew 41 percent in the third quarter from the second quarter as the interest margin improved and robust growth continued in both savings and mortgages," said Tilmant.

ING noted that retail banking operations in the Netherlands and Belgium had posted sharp increases in the quarter.

ING makes most of its revenues from insurance, but books more profit from its banking division, due in part to strong growth at ING Direct, which reported profit of 179 million in the quarter, up from 114 million a year before.

The group, whose shares have performed largely in line with the benchmark DJ Stoxx Insurance Index <.SXIP>, trades at about 8 times estimated 2005 earnings versus a sector average of around 13.

ING shares were up 2.1 percent at 25.74 euros by 0805 GMT.

The bancassurer has been divesting non-core operations to focus on life insurance, retail and wholesale banking in the Benelux, the United States, Asia and developing markets.

ING is using the proceeds of its disposals to boost its capital base and make small and medium-sized add-on acquisitions in its core businesses.

(Additional reporting by Louise Ireland)