Dexia's chief executive sees positive fourth quarter

Franco-Belgian financial services group Dexia expects its fourth quarter figures to be similar to the positive results of the previous three quarters, its chief executive said on Saturday. Dexia reported a third consecutive quarterly profit last month.
Net profit came in at 274 million euros ($394.3 million) in the July-September period in line with expectations, compared with a loss of 1.5 billion euros a year earlier. Mariani, who took charge of the group a year ago, said he expected the firm start running on "its own feet" from early next year without state guarantees for its short-term needs, and by the end of 2010 for its long-term borrowing. "We have succeeded in raising 45 billion euros of long-term funding this year, half of which is not guaranteed by the state," the paper quoted Mariani as saying.