ABN SAYS PROFIT RISE ENCOURAGING IN VIEW DOLLAR Algemene Bank Nederland N.V. <ABNN.AS> chairman Robertus Hazelhoff said the bank's 10.3 pct increase in net 1986 profit to 527 mln guilders from 478 mln in 1985 was encouraging in view of the sharply lower dollar. Hazelhoff, speaking at a press conference after the release of ABN's 1986 results, said a sharp decrease in foreign earnings had been compensated by a strong domestic performance, notably in the securities business. He said the bank was also proposing a one for 10 share-split which should facilitate trade in the bank's stock. News of the split sparked a 14 guilder rise in ABN's share price on the Amsterdam bourse to a close of 517 guilders. Prospects for 1987 hung on three uncertainties, namely the future trend of the dollar, the level of interest rates and ABN's share of equities trade, Hazelhoff said. Provisions for general contingencies were reduced in 1986 by 4.1 pct to 575 mln guilders, while taxes increased by 2.1 pct to 242 mln guilders, he added. Lower global interest rates in 1986 had nipped earnings margins via traditional lending activities, he said. Hazelhoff said ABN was unlikely to continue reducing risk provisions in the future but he noted the bank was not overly concerned about default by Latin American debtors, a factor which brokers say has distanced Dutch insititutions from bank stocks recently. He said that of the bank's estimated 25 financially troubled sovereign debtors, about one quarter were Latin American countries. These would ultimately pay up, he said. He added that losses incurred through loans to tin producers in the wake of the tin council crisis at end-1985 had been written off.