Bank of Montreal Profit Climbs, Aided by M&I Deal
TORONTO--Bank of Montreal said first-quarter earnings rose 34%, helped by much lower loan-loss provisions and the recent acquisition of U.S. bank Marshall & Ilsley Corp.</br></br>The Toronto-based lender, Canada's fourth-largest bank by assets, said it earned C$1.11 billion ($1.11 billion), or C$1.63 a share, in its fiscal first quarter ended Jan. 31, up from C$825 million, or C$1.34, a year earlier.</br></br>Adjusted earnings, which exclude certain items such as costs related to its Marshall & Ilsley acquisition and a capital markets-related restructuring charge, rose 19% to C$972 million, or C$1.42 a share, beating the Thomson Reuters mean estimate of C$1.38.</br></br>The bank bolstered earnings by chopping provisions for bad debt despite growing concerns about high Canadian consumer debt levels and a hot housing market. Loan-loss provisions were less than half of last year's level, falling to C$141 million from C$323 million.</br></br>Still, BMO remains optimistic in its outlook for the North American economy, and while superlow interest rates and competition in its Canadian franchise are thinning profit margins, Canadian retail trends weren't quite as dire on a sequential basis as predicted, analysts said.