New York - Wells Fargo & Co., the bank in the limelight in the acquisition of Wachovia Corp., reported Wednesday that it achieved 1.64 billion dollars in net income in the third-quarter.

The figure was down 24 per cent from the 2.17 billion dollar profit in the third quarter last year, but was better than what analysts had been projecting.

The Q3 net profit of 49 cents per share beat the average 43 cents forecast which analysts had projected in a survey for the business wire agency Bloomberg.

The earnings came on revenues of 10.4 billion dollars, up by more than five per cent from last year's third quarter, the San Francisco, California-based Wells Fargo reported.

The bank's report comes on the heels of the turbulent takeover tug-of-war with rival Citigroup for Wachovia. (dpa)