UPDATE 1-Israel Discount Bank Q4 net falls, misses forecasts

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By Shoshanna Solomon

TEL AVIV, March 31 (Reuters) - Israel Discount Bank (DSCT.TA: Quote, Profile, Research), Israel's third-largest bank, on Monday reported a fall in fourth-quarter net profit due to one-time costs and said a global slowdown could weigh on its results this year.

Net profit fell to 41 million shekels ($12 million), or 0.04 shekel per share, from 148 million shekels, 0.15 shekel a share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, Discount said its net profit was 126 million shekels, compared with 123 million shekels the previous year.

Financing income before doubtful debt provision rose to 1.08 billion shekels from 1.0 billion shekels a year earlier while the provision dipped to 85 million shekels from 177 million.

Discount had been forecast to post net profit of 225 million shekels on financing income pre-bad debts of 1.05 billion shekels, according to the average estimate of seven analysts in a Reuters poll.

The bank said it had one-time charges of more than 200 million shekels for an early retirement plan and for an eventual sale of its stake in First International Bank of Israel (FIBI) (FTIN5.TA: Quote, Profile, Research).

Discount Chairman Shlomo Zohar told a news conference the bank was in talks with the Bank of Israel about the sale of its FIBI stake.