MADRID (Reuters) - Spain’s Caixabank on Friday said its third-quarter recurrent profit rose 33% pro-forma against the same period a year ago due to lower loan loss provisions. Caixabank, which in March closed the 4.3 billion euros acquisition of Bankia in a defensive deal to better cope with ultra low interest rates and the coronavirus pandemic, reported an underlying profit of 744 million euros ($868.47 million) in the July to September period.. A pro-forma net profit of around 560 million euros for the third quarter of 2020 was used to calculate the year-on-year comparison taking into account Bankia. ($1 = 0.8567 euros) Reporting by Jesús Aguado, editing by Inti Landauro