Citigroup Posts Higher Profit -- Update
January 14 2019 - 8:47AM
Dow Jones News
By Telis Demos
Citigroup Inc. said its fourth-quarter profit surged from a year
ago, when it took a large write-down related to changes in the U.S.
tax code.
Net income was $4.3 billion, versus a loss of $18.9 billion a
year ago, and earnings per share were $1.64. Analysts polled by
Refinitiv expected $1.55 a share.
The bank overcame a difficult quarter for the trading business
due to a volatile December marked by many clients stepping away
from the market.
Overall revenue at the bank was $17.1 billion, down 2% from a
year ago.
Still, profit grew thanks to a lower overall tax rate and a 4%
drop in expenses from a year earlier, to $9.9 billion.
Taking out the tax write-off from a year ago, and removing a
small one-time tax-related gain in the fourth quarter, net income
grew 14% from a year ago, to $4.2 billion.
The charges last year related to a decline in the value of
deferred tax assets the bank accumulated during the financial
crisis, after 2017 law slashed the corporate tax rate.
Citigroup has been among the hardest hit stocks in the banking
sector of late, as investors worried about the impact of slowing
global growth on the New York bank's vast international
business.
Global consumer banking revenue at $8.4 billion was flat
year-over-year, led by 1% growth in North America. Revenue was flat
in Mexican consumer banking, and down 4% across Asia.
Revenue in the bank's credit-card business, where investors have
been hoping to see a pivot to growth, was up 1% from a year ago, to
$5.1 billion.
One strong area was the bank's treasury and trade services unit,
which serves multinational corporations around the world. That was
up 7% to $2.4 billion.
Write to Telis Demos at telis.demos@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 14, 2019 08:32 ET (13:32 GMT)
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