Italy's Bper beats estimates for Q3 profit helped by higher rates, fees

MILAN (Reuters) -Italy's BPER Banca posted on Monday a better-than expected third quarter net profit helped by a rise in core revenues which were boosted by the recent acquisition of rival Banca Carige.

Italy's fourth-largest bank said net profit for the three months through September fell 3.4% from a year earlier to 81.6 million euros but well above an 67 million-euro forecast in a Reuters analyst pool.

Revenues rose 15.1% year-on-year to 1.02 billion euros, above expectations, mainly driven by higher net interest income and stronger net fees despite financial market headwinds. However higher costs related to Carige's ongoing restructuring also dampened profit.

(Reporting by Andrea MandalàEditing by Keith Weir)