CITIGROUP PROFIT FAILS TO IMPRESS
CITIGROUP posted an unexpected third quarter profit of $101m (£62m) yesterday, but saw its shares fall on worries about $8bn in credit losses.
The bank, led by chief executive Vikram Pandit, had been expected by analysts to record a loss, but inched into profit as it recorded $20.39bn in revenues.
But analysts pointed out that, but for stock dividends and one-off items, the bank would have recorded a $3.2bn loss, meaning that shareholders were hit with a loss of $0.27 per share.
Nonetheless, a second successive profitable quarter is a boost for the bank, following a nightmare year during the banking crisis which saw it take $45bn in taxpayer-funded bailout money and hand a 34 per cent stake to the government.
Pandit admitted yesterday that the company was still being weighed down by loan losses, saying “US consumer credit remains the number one issue affecting our near-term results”. He added credit losses had fallen for the first time since the onset of the banking crisis.
The bank said it had enough cash in place to cover losses on consumer loans for the next 13 months. Its shares closed down five per cent in New York yesterday, falling to $4.75 on the back of market fears about the credit losses.
Citigroup is expected to set aside $25bn in compensation for its 276,000 staff this year, working out at an average $90,600 each, far less than pay packets at its more successful peers.