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Citigroup 4Q profit falls 26%

22 January 2007 11:30 (UTC +04:00)

Citigroup Inc., the largest bank in the United States, said Friday its profit fell 26 per cent in the fourth quarter from results a year earlier that were boosted by a gain on the sale of a business line, the APA reports.
But its latest earnings still beat Wall Street expectations.
The New York-based bank said it earned US$5.13 billion, or $1.03 a share, in the October-December period, down from $6.93 billion, or $1.37 a share, a year earlier. The year-earlier figure included a $2-billion gain on the sale of an asset management business; excluding the gain, earnings in the fourth quarter of 2005 were 98 cents a share.
The latest quarterâ€™s results included $415 million in charges stemming from previously announced cutbacks in the bankâ€™s consumer-finance operations in Japan.
Quarterly revenue was a record $23.83 billion, up from $20.78 billion in the same period in 2005.
The bank also announced that the board approved a 10 per cent increase to the quarterly dividend on the companyâ€™s common stock to 54 cents a share from 49 cents per share, payable Feb. 23 to stockholders of record Feb. 5.
Despite the strong showing, Citigroup shares fell 37 cents to $54.02 on trading on the New York Stock Exchange as investors took profits from the recent runup in share prices.
Citigroup opened nearly 1,200 bank branches and consumer finance offices worldwide last year, the report said.
Analysts and investors have criticized the bank for expenses that have been rising faster than revenue.
For the full year, profits totalled $21.54 billion, or $4.31 a share, down 12 per cent from $24.6 billion, or $4.75 a share in 2005. Revenue was $89.6 billion for 2006, up from $83.6 billion in 2005. /APA/