Citigroup, Wachovia earnings rise in third quarter

Citigroup Inc., the nation’s largest financial institution, said its third-quarter earnings rose 35 percent, boosted by a big gain from the sale of its life insurance and annuities business. Wachovia Corp.’s earnings soared 32 percent, fueled by strong revenue growth from its acquisition of regional bank SouthTrust Corp. and higher fees and lending income.

Wachovia’s results were helped by strong retail banking performance, but Citigroup’s were dampened somewhat by weaker performance in its North American credit card and consumer finance divisions because of the recent surge in bankruptcy filings and tight net interest margins.

On Monday, Citigroup shares fell 23 cents to close at $44.81 on the New York Stock Exchange. Wachovia’s shares rose 27 cents to close at $48.12, also on the Big Board. Citigroup stock has traded in a 52-week range between $42.10 and $49.99, while Wachovia’s have ranged from $46.30 to $56.28 over the past year.

Wachovia, the nation’s fourth-largest bank, said its net income totaled $1.67 billion, or $1.06 per share, in the third quarter, up from $1.26 billion, or 96 cents, a year earlier.

Without merger-related charges, Wachovia’s third-quarter earnings were $1.09 per share. That beat the consensus estimate of $1.07 per share from analysts polled by Thomson Financial.

Revenue totaled $6.7 billion in the quarter, up 19 percent from $5.63 billion a year earlier and also ahead of analysts’ consensus target of $6.46 billion.

“Idaho Independent Bank, of Coeur d’Alene, reported third-quarter net income of $2.08 million, or 75 cents a share, compared with income of $1.19 million, or 44 cents a share, in the like period a year ago.

Third-quarter 2004 results were adjusted for a 7 percent stock dividend paid in December.

As of Sept. 30, the bank had assets of $510 million, an increase of 32 percent from assets of $387 million on Sept. 30, 2004.

Idaho Independent has 10 branches in Idaho and about 180 employees.

“Job cuts and the spinoff of the personal-computer division aided third-quarter profits at International Business Machines Corp., which beat analysts’ forecasts despite a slight revenue shortfall.

In the three months ending Sept. 30, IBM earned $1.52 billion, or 94 cents per share, on revenue of $21.5 billion.

In the same period last year profit was $1.55 billion, 92 cents per share, on revenue of $23.3 billion.

Without that charge and the PC operations, the continuing operations last year earned $1.03 a share.

This year’s third quarter included a $525 million tax payment that IBM had to make as it repatriated $9 billion in profits earned overseas. Without that charge, IBM’s continuing operations showed income of $1.26 per share.

That easily surpassed the $1.13 per share that analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had been expecting. But IBM fell short of the revenue forecast of $21.7 billion, as sales rose just 4 percent over last year’s non-PC operations.

“Department store operator Saks Inc. on Monday reported a second-quarter profit, reversing a year-ago loss, helped by a large gain from the sale of its Proffitt’s and McRae’s businesses over the summer.

But the retailer’ flagship Saks Fifth Avenue stores floundered amid an accounting scandal that shifted the company’s focus from merchandising.

For the quarter ended July 30, Saks reported a net profit of $8.2 million, or 6 cents per share, compared with a year-ago net loss of $25.3 million, or 18 cents per share.

Revenue declined 3 percent to $1.32 billion from $1.35 billion a year ago. Sales in stores open at least one year, a measure also known as same-store sales, rose 2.1 percent.

“Philips Electronics NV, Europe’s largest consumer electronics manufacturer, posted a 23 percent increase in third-quarter net profit Monday, backed mainly by a one-time gain on asset sales.

Philips said net profit rose to 1.44 billion euros ($1.73 billion) in the three months ended Sept. 30 from 1.17 billion euros a year earlier. The largest single contributor was an extraordinary gain of 1.09 billion euros ($1.32 billion) in asset sales, including 635 million euros in nontaxable income from the initial public offering of shares in navigation systems company Navteq Corp.