By Jeffrey T. Lewis


SÃO PAULO--Banco do Brasil SA shares rose 4.5% Tuesday after the state-controlled lender reported stronger-than-expected results for the fourth quarter while also boosting provisions for bad loans.

Shares reached 42.43 reais, the equivalent of $8.27, and are up 16.9% from the end of last year through Monday's close. Brazil's benchmark Ibovespa stocks index was up 0.3% in mid-morning trading.

The Brasília-based bank said its net income jumped 61% in the final quarter of last year from a year earlier, while net interest income rose 45%, helped by the bank's growing loan portfolio. Banco do Brasil's conservative lending criteria kept its bad-loan level lower than its peers, said XP Investimentos analysts Renan Manda and Matheus Guimarães in a research note.

The bank boosted its fourth-quarter provisions for bad loans by 72.4% from a year earlier, and said results were affected by a provision for a "company in the large corporate segment" that filed for protection from creditors in January. Brazilian retailer Americanas SA, which in January was granted protection from creditors while it works on a restructuring plan, said last week that it owes Banco do Brasil about BRL1.6 billion.


Write to Jeffrey T. Lewis at jeffrey.lewis@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-14-23 0922ET