Dexia 3rd quarter profit falls 28%

Dexia SA, the Belgian financial services company, reported 28% drop in 3rd quater net profit. Net profit dropped to 439 million euros (which is 16% below analysts forecast) from 612 million euros in the same period a year earlier due to writedowns at Dexia's U.S. bond insurance unit.

Dexia shares dropped 7.7% to close at 17.81 euros in Brussels trading Friday.

Dexia, said in its results' statement: "The financial crisis has created liquidity disruptions that have led to the negative mark-to-market of certain financial portfolios... These negative marks however do not reflect actual credit losses." It added also that the exposure to subprime mortgages remained well protected and did not expect to incur material economic losses on their account.

Current market capitalization for Dexia SA is 20.6 billion euros
Current share price: 17.6 euros