Espirito Santo Falls After Posting Drop in Profit: Lisbon Mover

Banco Espirito Santo SA (BES), Portugal’s biggest publicly traded bank by market value, fell 3.1 percent in Lisbon trading after reporting a drop in first-half profit.

The stock declined 1.6 cents to 50 euro cents in the Portuguese capital. Espirito Santo has fallen 39 percent this year, giving the lender a market value of 2 billion euros ($2.5 billion).

Espirito Santo, based in Lisbon, yesterday said first-half net income fell 86 percent to 25.5 million euros after tax costs increased. It paid 101.4 million euros in income tax in the period.

Costs to consolidate an insurance unit also hurt earnings, Andre Rodrigues, an analyst at Caixa-Banco de Investimento SA with a buy recommendation on the stock, said in a research note.

The Bloomberg Europe Banks and Financial Services Index dropped 1.8 percent. Shares of UBS AG paced the decline with a 5.9 percent slide after Switzerland’s biggest bank reported a 58 percent drop in second-quarter profit.

To contact the reporter on this story: Joao Lima in Lisbon at jlima1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Foxwell at sfoxwell@bloomberg.net