Citigroup reported first-quarter revenue on Friday that beat analysts’ estimates, helped by better-than-expected leads to the bank’s investment banking and trading businesses.
That’s the way it’s done company carried outin comparison with estimates from LSEG, formerly generally known as Refinitiv:
- Earnings: $1.86 per share, adjusted, versus expected $1.23
- Revenue: $21.10 billion vs. expected $20.4 billion
The bank said profit fell 27% from a yr earlier to $3.37 billion, or $1.58 per share, attributable to higher expenses and borrowing costs. Adjusted for the impact of FDIC fees, restructuring and other costs, Citi earned $1.86 per share, based on LSEG calculations.
Revenue fell 2% to $21.10 billion, primarily attributable to the impact of the sale of a foreign business within the year-ago period.
Investment banking revenue rose 35% to $903 million within the quarter, driven by increased debt and equity issuance, topping StreetAccount’s estimate of $805 million.
Fixed income trading revenue fell 10% to $4.2 billion, topping estimates of $4.14 billion. Stock trading revenue rose 5% to $1.2 billion, beating estimates of $1.12 billion.
The bank also reported an 8% increase in revenue to $4.8 billion in its services division, which incorporates corporations that serve the banking needs of world corporations, because of rising deposits and charges.
The bank’s shares fell 2% after earlier posting gains.
Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser previously said its major corporate reform could be accomplished by March and that the corporate would release an update on severance costs together with its first-quarter results.
“Last month marked the end of the organizational simplification we announced in September,” Fraser said within the earnings release. “The result’s a cleaner, simpler management structure that’s fully aligned with and facilitates our strategy.
Last yr, Fraser announced plans to simplify the management structure and cut costs on the third-largest U.S. bank by assets. The bank on Friday reiterated its medium-term goals for a return of no less than 11% and revenue of no less than $80 billion this yr.
JPMorgan Chase reported results earlier on Friday and Goldman Sachs reported on Monday.
