Dutch state-owned bank ABN AMRO on Friday said it expected full-year underlying profit to rise and may raise its medium-term targets as it prepares for sale in 2014 or later. ABN AMRO is being readied for an initial public offering in the next couple of years, so that the Dutch state can offload its stake in the bank. The local ABN AMRO and Fortis entities were nationalised in 2008 after the dramatic failure of a three-pronged hostile 70-billion-euro takeover of ABN AMRO by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L), Fortis and Banco Santander (SAN.MC). ABN and Fortis are being integrated. "Although we expect underlying profit for 2011 to be higher than last year, these first-quarter results are not to be extrapolated for the remainder of the year," said Gerrit Zalm, chief executive, in a statement. ABN AMRO reported underlying net profit of 1.1 billion euros in 2010.
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