Norwest Corp. Quarterly Earnings.Up
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ Norwest Corp. (NOB - news) earnings jumped 15 percent to $392.9 million in the third quarter on strong performance by most of its banking operations.
Income for the quarter ended Sept. 30, equivalent to 50 cents per share, compared with $341.6 million, or 44 cents per share, a year earlier.
The earnings included $2.5 million of pretax charges related to the acquisition of MidAmerica bank group.
The results matched analysts' mean estimates according to First Call Corp. The company's stock was up 561/4 cents to $33.933/4 in midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Total revenues for the quarter reached more than $2 billion, compared with $1.78 billion in the third quarter of 1997.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors approved merger of Norwest and San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC - news) That approval marked the last regulatory hurdle to creation of the nation's seventh-largest bank. Shareholders will vote on the merger,valued at $28 billion, next Tuesday. The transaction is expected to close in November.
For the first nine months of the year, Norwest earnings totaled $1.14 billion, or $1.46 per share,up nearly 15 percent from $994.9 million, or $1.29 a share, a year earlier.
Revenues totaled $5.91 billion, up from $5.18 billion a year earlier.
Norwest, with $103.7 billion in assets, has banking, insurance, investments, mortgage and consumer finance operations in all 50 states and outside the United States. |
