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Empresas y finanzas

RBS returns to profit, recovery ahead of target


    LONDON (Reuters) - Part-nationalized British lender Royal Bank of Scotland swung back to a profit in 2010 after racking up a huge loss a year earlier and said it was making good progress on its restructuring plans.

    RBS posted a full year operating profit of 1.9 billion pounds ($3.1 billion) for the year ending December 2009, compared to a 6.1 billion pound loss a year earlier.

    Earnings were boosted by lower bad debt charges, and the profit figure was ahead of an average forecast for a 1.5 billion pound operating profit from Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S estimates.

    RBS was bailed out by taxpayers in October 2008 after its finances were stretched by the credit crisis and its part in the acquisition of Dutch bank ABN AMRO in 2007.

    "Two years on from the global financial crisis, RBS's recovery is ahead of schedule," Chief Executive Stephen Hester said in a statement.

    ($1=.6165 Pound)

    (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; editing by Paul Hoskins)