Intertrust says revenues and earnings improved in third quarter

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Intertrust, the Dutch trust and corporate services firm, reported a rise in third-quarter revenue and operating profit on Monday, citing strong demand for its services.

By helping set up and administering trust companies, Intertrust helps multinationals that wish to minimize their taxes do so in a way that complies with the law.

It was Intertrust's first earnings report as a public company after it joined the Euronext stock exchange last month.

Revenue was up 20 percent at 87.3 million euros ($96 million) in the third quarter from the same period a year ago, while adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, and amortization of goodwill was up 20 percent at 34.7 million euros.

The company said it expected revenues to increase at a similar pace in the fourth quarter, while margins would improve "modestly."

CEO David de Buck said the company was not expecting to lose business as a result of new standards on profit shifting by multinationals recently set by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or by recent findings by the European Union that tax deals the Netherlands and Luxembourg struck with Starbucks and Amazon were illegal.

"No, we're not concerned about changes of the attractiveness of our two main jurisdictions," De Buck said.

"That's also not what we see when we look at the pipeline of our business."

He said Intertrust's revenues would increase in the coming years on a mix of growth and acquisitions outside the Cayman Islands and Guernsey, where it also has significant operations.

Shares rose 0.3 percent to 18.00 euros. They are up 17 percent since the company's Oct. 15 listing.

Intertrust, which is 49.95 percent owned by the Blackstone Group, will not present a net profit or loss figure until the fourth quarter.

(Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Greg Mahlich and Mark Potter)