FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Commerzbank wants to keep its shareholders on board in its defensive battle against Italy's Unicredit with the prospect of record profits. Although the DAX-listed group earned slightly less in the third quarter than a year earlier, the Board of Managing Directors nevertheless sees itself on course for a net profit of around 2.4 billion euros for the year as a whole. Unicredit CEO Andrea Orcel continued to campaign for a takeover of the Frankfurt-based bank, but dampened speculation of a quick deal. The Unicredit share initially reacted positively to the news in the morning and at times gained more than three percent. By lunchtime, however, it had lost its gains again and was one of the weaker stocks in the Eurozone index EuroStoxx 50 with a discount of 0.7 percent. Meanwhile, the Commerzbank share lost almost three percent. Unicredit was thus valued at around 70 billion euros on the stock exchange.