Portugal's Millennium bcp profit rises 13% on resilient margins, lower charges

LISBON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Portugal's largest listed bank, Millennium bcp BCP.LS, posted a 12.6% jump in nine-month net profit on Wednesday, beating expectations as resilient lending margins weathered ECB rate cuts, while mortgage charges at its Polish unit fell sharply.

• Consolidated net profit rose to €873.7 million ($971.55 million), above the average forecast of €800 million in an LSEG analyst poll. Net income at its domestic business increased 11.2% to €728 million

• Net profit at its half-owned Polish unit, Bank Millennium MILP.WA, rose 30% to €260 million as charges related to its legacy Swiss franc mortgage portfolio, a long-time drag on earnings, fell 64% from a year earlier to €135.5 million

• Consolidated net interest income (NII), a measure of earnings on loans minus deposit costs, rose 5.8% to €2.29 billion despite lower ECB and Polish interest rates than a year earlier

• CEO Miguel Maya said at a press conference that the results were "frankly positive despite nine fairly difficult months, with high levels of uncertainty", reflecting the bank's ability to generate value, despite interest rate cuts

• Consolidated fee and commission income rose 5% to €660 million

• Millennium bcp, which also operates in Mozambique and Angola, reduced total non-performing exposures by 9.8% to €1.44 billion as of September

($1 = 3.9600 zlotys)

($1 = 0.8993 euros)