Citigroup Beats Analysts' Estimates
By EILEEN ALT POWELL
AP Business Writer
customwire.ap.org
NEW YORK (AP) -- Strong performance in retail banking, including mortgage originations, and in investment banking boosted Citigroup earnings in the second quarter to $4.3 billion, or 83 cents a share.
That was 3 cents above the estimates of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call.
In the second quarter last year, Citigroup's net income was $4.1 billion, or 78 cents a share.
Citigroup chairman and chief executive Sanford I. Weill noted that the bank had done especially well in retail and investment banking.
"Once again, our consumer businesses delivered exceptional income growth ... led by 63 percent growth in retail banking, which earned over $1 billion this quarter," Weill said in a statement accompanying the results.
He added that the corporate and investment bank results "reflect a record quarter in fixed income trading."
Weill also revealed that Citigroup was "shifting much of our equity-based compensation from options to restricted stock," a strategy that other big corporations, including Microsoft, are adopting amid pressure for accounting reform. He added that Citigroup also would require workers who exercise options to hold their shares for a minimum of two years.
The first-quarter results looked even stronger after adjusting for Citigroup's sale last year of its Travelers Property Casualty Group.
Excluding Travelers, the April-June earnings of $4.3 billion were up 12 percent from net income of $3.83 billion in the first quarter of 2002.
For the first half of the year, earnings were $8.4 billion, or $1.62 a share, compared with $8.9 billion, or $1.71 a share. Excluding Travelers, earnings in the first half of 2002 were $7.31 billion, or $1.40 a share.
Total revenues were $19.35 billion in the April-June quarter, up 8 percent from $18 billion a year earlier. Revenues for the first half were $37.9 billion, up 6 percent from $35.8 billion in 2002. |
