Scotiabank Q3 profit rises 17.2%Scotiabank Q3 profit rises 17.2% to $733 million, revenues slip to $2.57B
TORONTO (CP) - Scotiabank's latest quarterly profit rose 17.2 per cent to $733 million, spurred by strong performance in Canada and abroad and a dramatically lowered provision for credit losses.
Net income for the three months ended July 31 amounted to 71 cents per share, up from 60 cents a share, or a total of $626 million, year earlier.
Total revenue for the quarter ended July 31 was $2.57 billion, down slightly from $2.64 billion a year before but down substantially from the previous quarter ended in May when Scotiabank had $2.8 billion in revenue and net income of $786 million.
The bank said its provision for credit losses in the May-July period, the third quarter of Scotiabank's 2004 financial year, fell to $50 million - one-quarter of what they were a year earlier and down from $130 million in the second quarter.
"In the third quarter, the bank reported good results in all its main businesses, a continuation of the trend in the first half of the year. Also contributing were lower provisions for credit losses in the third quarter, which were at their lowest quarterly level in over five years," the bank said in a statement.
Net income for the nine-month period ended July 31 was a record $2.2 billion, or $2.13 per share, up 22.4 per cent compared to $1.8 billion in the same period last year, or $1.71 per share.
Scotiabank shares (TSX:BNS) were down 28 cents at $36.38 in trading on the Toronto stock market.
© The Canadian Press, 2004