Brazil's Bradesco meets profit estimates despite slower credit revenue

SAO PAULO, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Brazilian lender Banco Bradesco BBDC3.SA on Thursday reported a 14.6% increase in its third-quarter recurring net profit from a year earlier, meeting analysts' expectations despite softer growth in credit-related revenue.

Bradesco, which kicked off earnings season for large Brazilian lenders, posted a 7.11 billion reais ($1.41 billion) recurring net profit for the July-September quarter, compared with the 7.14 billion reais expected in a LSEG poll of analysts.

• CEO Marcelo Noronha said in a statement that Bradesco kept a cautious stance and a moderate appetite for risk amid a challenging macroeconomic environment in Brazil

• "We saw slower growth in our credit-related revenues, but this was offset by non-credit revenues and solid cost control," he wrote

• Return on average equity (ROAE) rose to 15.6% from 14.7% a year earlier; Bradesco said that, excluding its recent 10 billion-real capital increase, the ROAE would land at 16.1%

• The loan book grew 11.1% to 1.15 trillion reais, while the over-90-day delinquency ratio edged up to 4.6% from 4.1%

• Provisions for loan losses reached 10.6 billion reais, rising 24.3% year-over-year

• The lender kept its 2026 projections unchanged

• Bradesco also renewed its share buyback program, with the new program set to start in November spanning up to 106.6 million shares

($1 = 5.0428 reais)