NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - FleetBoston Financial Corp. said Friday that credit losses in the airline and energy industries would cut its profit to about half the expected level in the fourth quarter.

The company said it expects earnings from operations to be about $300 million, or 28 cents a share in the period, including loan provisions of $800 million, up from $450 million at the end of the third quarter.

Excluding the rise in those loan provisions, the company said it would have earnings of about $600 million, or 57 cents a share, which would be in line with the forecasts of analysts surveyed by earnings tracker First Call. But it's not clear if analysts will exclude or include those loan provisions for purposes of comparison to their estimates.

The company earned 57 cents a share, excluding special items, in the third quarter, but lost 49 cents a share on that basis in the fourth quarter of 2001.

The company said that fourth-quarter net credit chargeoffs and writedowns, excluding loans to Argentina, will total about $500 million. About $150 million in those charges come from the bankruptcy at United Airlines parent UAL Corp. (UAL: Research, Estimates), a European energy company and a recent court settlement dealing with Enron-related financing.

Shares of FleetBoston (FBF: Research, Estimates) gained 37 cents to $27.50 in trading Thursday.