UPDATE 3-Goldman posts $1.7 bln Q1 profit, plans $5 bln offer

Mon Apr 13, 2009 11:03pm BST

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* Posts $1.66 bln of profit, or $3.39/shr, beats forecasts

* Lost $1.03 billion in December

* Key measure of trading risk surges (Adds analyst comment, detail on results)

NEW YORK, April 13 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) posted higher-than-expected first-quarter profit as it took more trading risk and said it planned to raise $5 billion of common shares to help pay back government funds.

The bank also said it lost $1 billion in December 2008, mainly due to trading and investment losses.

The New York-based bank has managed to sidestep most of the worst of the financial crisis, having posted just one quarterly loss since the middle of 2007, even as competitors posted four or more quarters of losses.

For the quarter ended March 27, Goldman reported net income for common shareholders of $1.66 billion, or $3.39 a share, far exceeding analysts' average forecast of $1.49 a share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Goldman's income came in part because of strong client trading activity in fixed income, currencies and commodities, where the company posted $6.56 billion of revenue. Continued...