SAO PAULO, May 15 (Reuters) - Lender Banco do Brasil

said on Thursday it has placed its 2025 projections

for net interest income, cost of credit and adjusted net income

under review, citing factors such as the worsening in the

delinquency of its agribusiness credit book.

The announcement came as the state-run bank reported an

adjusted net profit of 7.37 billion reais ($1.30 billion) for

the first quarter, down 20.7% year-on-year and below the 9.23

billion reais expected by analysts polled by LSEG.

Banco do Brasil, which kept its other yearly projections

unchanged, said the delinquency of its agribusiness credit

portfolio has worsened more than expected, which combined with

the impact of regulatory accounting changes in Brazil increased

uncertainties.

"We expect a very negative share reaction tomorrow as we

believe consensus will likely need to materially adjust,"

JPMorgan analysts wrote in a note to clients.

Analysts at Citi in a note cited a weak first quarter

for the bank. But Citi added, "Perhaps more worrisome is the

bank's guidance revision," noting the three lines being placed

under review, "which in our view talks of a still-challenging

path ahead before a recovery."

The lender is the last among major listed Brazilian banks to

report first-quarter earnings, with investors in general

welcoming results of its main private peers, such as Itau

Unibanco ( ITUB ) and Bradesco.

Banco do Brasil posted a return on equity of 16.7% in the

quarter, down from 21.7% a year earlier and 20.8% in the

previous three-month period.

While the lender's loan book, which is about 30% on the

agribusiness sector, rose over 14% year-on-year to 1.28 trillion

reais, the cost of credit increased near 19%, to 10.2 billion

reais, on higher loan-loss provisions.

The bank said the cost of credit increase resulted

mainly from a higher default ratio on the agribusiness book,

which rose to about 3% from 1.2% a year earlier, driving an

almost one percentage point increase in the bank's overall

90-day delinquency ratio.

"There is a stock of operations being handled from the

2023/2024 harvest, including due to judicial recoveries in the

sector - which require greater provisioning under the new

regulation," Banco do Brasil said in the earnings report.

In separate filings, the bank said it had approved 1.9

billion reais ($334.41 million) in interest on equity to

shareholders, while announcing its board of directors tapped

Anelize de Almeida as chairwoman.

($1 = 5.6817 reais)