GENOA, Italy -(Dow Jones)- UniCredit SpA (UC.MI) chief executive AlessandroProfumo Monday repeated that the bank's 2007 earnings per share may be increasedgiven the company's good performance.
"UniCredit forecast a 2007 EPS of EUR0.56 per share on a stand-alone basis",Profumo said, adding "the bank will improve this result thanks to very positivefirst-quarter results."
In May UniCredit announced its takeover offer for Italian peer Capitalia SpA (CAP.MI) in a deal worth some EUR22 billion. Shareholders of Capitalia earlierMonday approved UniCredit's takeover offer.
Profumo said savings due to the Capitalia merger may be more than the EUR1.2billion in gross savings expected by 2010.
-By Sabrina Cohen, Dow Jones Newswires; +39 347 3563 463; sabrina.cohen@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 07-30-07 1025ET Copyright (c) 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.