National Bank of Canada on Dec. 1 reported net income attributable to shareholders of C$506 million for the quarter ended Oct. 31, or C$1.39 per share. This is compared to C$289 million net income, or 78 Canadian cents per share, a year ago.
The S&P Capital IQ consensus normalized EPS estimate was C$1.38.
For the fiscal fourth quarter, the Montreal-based company's business segments saw net income growth year over year. Excluding specified items, the U.S. specialty finance and international segment posted C$55 million in net income, which is 162% higher than a year ago. The personal and commercial segment recorded net income of C$239 million, up from C$191 million last year. For wealth management, net income increased 29% year over year to C$110 million, and financial markets posted net income of C$186 million, up 6% from a year ago.
The company's total revenues for the recently concluded fiscal quarter amounted to C$1.70 billion, up from C$1.57 billion in the year-ago fiscal quarter.
For fiscal 2017, the company recorded net income attributable to shareholders of C$1.94 billion, or C$5.38 per share, compared to fiscal 2016's C$1.18 billion, or C$3.29 per share.
On Nov. 15, National Bank of Canada redeemed all the issued and outstanding noncumulative five-year rate-reset Series 28 first preferred shares, at a redemption price of C$25.00 per share plus the periodic dividend declared and unpaid. The company redeemed 8 million Series 28 preferred shares for a total amount of C$200 million, which will reduce preferred share capital.
In addition, the company's board on Nov. 30 declared a dividend of 60 cents per common share, payable Feb. 1, 2018, to shareholders of record on Dec. 27. The dividend is 2 cents higher than the previous dividend.
