By Todd White

Madrid, April 29 (<a href=quote.bloomberg.com>Bloomberg) -- The following summarizes first-quarter earnings expectations for Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, Spain's second-biggest lender and the owner of Mexico's largest bank.

Expected Earnings:

The Bilbao-based bank probably will say first-quarter profit declined 12 percent to 515 million euros ($566 million), or 16 cents a share, from 587 million euros, or 18 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter, according to the median forecast of seven analyst estimates collected by Bloomberg News.

Profit was reduced by the Mexican peso's slide against the euro and lower investment income. Those more than offset higher Spanish consumer bank profit and savings from cutting expenses, analysts said.

Personnel and administrative costs probably fell about 11 percent to 1.4 billion euros, after the bank shed 5,500 jobs worldwide in 2002.

Time

The Bilbao-based bank plans to report earnings Wednesday, sometime in the afternoon Madrid time.

Behind the Numbers:

Banco Bilbao and domestic rivals all had to lower rates charged on loans to track falling benchmark interest rates. That eroded gains from higher mortgage lending and leasing, Bilbao's fastest-growing loan categories in 2002.

Euribor 12-month interest rates fell to about 2.4 percent on March 31 from 4 percent one year earlier.

The bank sold more than 650 million euros of stakes in profitable companies last year, including Metrovacesa SA and Acerinox SA, reducing investment income in the first quarter.

Earnings from its Grupo Financiero BBVA-Bancomer SA unit, Mexico's No. 1 bank, were undercut when translated into euros by the Mexican peso's 31 percent slide from the year-ago quarter.

That held profit in Mexico, before financing and other charges, to a gain of 16 percent to 116 million euros, Jose Luis de Mora, a Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst in London estimated.

Profit from Colombia and other Latin American countries fell about 37 percent to 38 million euros, he estimated. BBVA owns the second-largest bank in Venezuela, where the bolivar fell 58 percent against the euro from the year-earlier quarter.

The currency declines also hurt asset management income, as Banco Bilbao is Latin America's largest pension manager based outside the continent, analysts said.

Chairman Francisco Gonzalez has said he's looking to make acquisitions. Target candidates are most likely in Portugal or the U.S., analysts said.

What the Experts Say:

``Mexico's results will be impacted by good volume coming from economic growth,'' Merrill Lynch's de Mora said in a report.

Bancomer is benefitting from a rebounding economy in which new mortgage lending by local banks likely will triple this year, officials at the unit have estimated.

Bancomer expects to maintain its 25 percent share of the Mexican mortgage-lending market, helped by government subsidies for low-income housing and more powers to repossess defaulted properties.

The Mexican government recently predicted the nation's $600 billion economy will expand by 3 percent this year, or triple last year's pace.

``There was a negative effect from repricing'' that reduced interest earned on loans more than what the bank paid on deposits, said Vicente Gonzalez, an analyst at Ibersecurities in Madrid.

Previous Market Reaction:

Banco Bilbao shares rose 1.7 percent, below the 2.7 percent gain of the Bloomberg Europe Banks and Financial Services Index, on Jan. 30 when it reported an 88 percent decline in fourth- quarter profit on Latin American write-offs.

The shares have climbed 4.6 percent this year.

BBC News

British oil giant BP has made $3.7bn (£2.3bn) in just three months, its largest ever quarterly profit.

BP's coffers were boosted by a sequence of world events that sent the oil price soaring.

These include the run-up to the war in Iraq, the national strike in Venezuela which blocked oil exports, and civil unrest in Nigeria which stopped production.

The profits represent a 136% rise over the same period a year earlier.

It means that BP was earning $41m a day during January, February and March.

"Oil markets have been driven by the impact of war in Iraq, together with the loss of Venezuelan and Nigerian exports and a cold winter in the northern hemisphere," said BP chief executive Lord Browne.

Worrying outlook?

However, oil prices have now decreased significantly after the war in Iraq did not damage world supplies as much as feared.

And that is expected to lead to a slump in BP's profits during the current quarter.

The benchmark crude oil price averaged $31.5 a barrel during the first quarter but was languishing at five-month lows of $23.05 a barrel on Tuesday.

Analysts also expressed concern about other elements of BP's business, including weak demand for chemicals and lower refining margins.

"They look good at the top but when you read more into the statement there are some uncertainties," said one dealer.

BP's shares rose at first but fell back to end the day down 3.25 pence at 399.75p.

Tue April 29, 2003 05:08 AM ET

LONDON (<a href=asia.reuters.com>Reuters) - Giant British oil firm BP Plc delivered its biggest ever quarterly profit on Tuesday boosted by war in Iraq, strikes in Venezuela and unrest in Nigeria.

Net profit adjusted for exceptional items and to reflect the current cost of supplies grew 136 percent from a year earlier to $3.729 billion, at the top end of analysts' expectations, as supply concerns linked to events in these three key producing nations boosted the price of crude oil.

guardian.co.uk Tuesday April 29, 2003 8:29 AM

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) - Pushing regional economic integration, Brazil's president met with his Bolivian counterpart in the latest summit highlighting the growing influence of South America's largest country.

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Monday that he and Bolivian leader Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada agreed to improve roads and bridges to boost trade between the neighboring nations.

Silva, who has met with the presidents of Colombia, Peru and Venezuela in the past month, will get visits in May from the leaders Uruguay and Ecuador in the Brazilian capital.

Experts say the flurry of activity is a message to the United States: A united South America will negotiate hard over terms of a proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas trade zone.

The United States and Brazil will spearhead the negotiations to create the 34-nation bloc stretching from Alaska to the southern tip of Argentina.

Brazil and other South American countries have repeatedly said that FTAA negotiations won't go far unless the U.S. makes commitments to reduce tariff barriers on agricultural products such as orange juice and sugar.

Silva, a former union leader known for his negotiating skills with multinational firms, wants by December to merge two current Latin trading blocs - Mercosur and the Andean Community.

Mercosur is made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay as members. Bolivia and Chile are associate members. The Andean grouping is made up of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.

``If he (Silva) assembles the Andean nations and Mercosur into one trading bloc, Brazil and its neighbors certainly will have better bargaining power,'' said David Fleischer, a political science professor at the University of Brasilia.

Despite his status as Brazil's first leftist leader and a friendship with Cuban leader Fidel Castro, Silva has made efforts to show he is willing to work with Washington.

He met last week with Treasury Secretary John Snow, who praised members of Silva's fiscally moderate financial team for dealing with the country's economic problems.

Many investors feared Silva would enact unorthodox economic policies that could lead Brazil to default on its massive foreign debt like its southern neighbor, Argentina. Since Silva's Jan. 1 inauguration, those concerns have evaporated.

The presidential meetings between Silva and other South American leaders also appear designed to give Brazil a higher profile on the international front. Silva said over the weekend that the United Nations should be reformed.

He said the Security Council should be expanded beyond the current five permanent members - United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and China.

The visits to Brazil also show that Silva, the country's first elected leftist president, has a more aggressive approach on international relations than his predecessors.

Traditionally Brazil has been timid in conducting foreign affairs, but Silva has given a great emphasis to Latin America'' since taking office, Fleischer said.

<a href=www.sunspot.net>SunSpot.net

Brazil's leftist president pushed his idea of regional economic integration in talks with his Bolivian counterpart in Brasilia yesterday - the latest in a string of summit meetings reflecting Brazil's growing influence.

"Latin American integration will no longer be a sentimental" notion, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said after he and Bolivian leader Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada agreed to a plan to improve roads and bridges to boost trade.

The leaders of Colombia, Peru and Venezuela have visited in the past month, and the presidents of Uruguay and Ecuador will come to the Brazilian capital this month. Experts say the flurry of activity represents a message to the United States: A united South America will negotiate hard over terms of a proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas trade zone.