Finance Watch -- WSJ
27 October 2016 - 6:02PM
Dow Jones News
BANCO SANTANDER
Profit Edges Higher, Beating Estimates
Banco Santander SA said third-quarter net profit inched higher,
as its business in Brazil benefited from a brightening outlook for
the economy and currency, while the slump in the British pound
knocked down returns from its U.K. unit.
Net profit rose less than 1% to EUR1.70 billion ($1.85 billion)
from EUR1.68 billion a year earlier. That beat analysts' estimates
of EUR1.55 billion, according to a poll by data provider FactSet.
Santander shares rose 0.4% in Madrid.
The bank, run by Executive Chairman Ana Botín, said net interest
income fell 2.4% to EUR7.80 billion from EUR7.98 billion a year
earlier, also better than analysts' estimates. "The
low-interest-rate environment within developed economies remains a
challenge for parts of our business, " Ms. Botín said. "Latin
American and consumer-finance franchises [are] growing particularly
well," she said.
Santander increased its capital ratio slightly to 10.47% as of
Sept. 30, under international regulations known as "fully loaded"
Basel III criteria. The bank reiterated it was on track to reach a
capital ratio of 11% in 2018, a level that would be below those of
its peers.
--Jeannette Neumann
LLOYDS BANKING
Net Falls, Hurt by Insurance Set-Aside
Lloyds Banking Group PLC set aside GBP1 billion ($1.22 billion)
more in the third quarter to compensate customers who were sold
insurance products they didn't need, taking a big bite out of
profit.
The U.K.'s biggest retail lender by assets said its after-tax
profit fell 68% to GBP219 million from a year earlier. Revenue rose
1% to GBP4.28 billion. Lloyds shares rose 1% in London.
Lloyds has set aside more than GBP17 billion to compensate
customers who were wrongly sold payment-protection insurance. The
insurance was widely sold alongside financial products, including
loans and credit cards, to cover customers' repayments should they
fall sick or lose their job.
Chief Financial Officer George Culmer said the amount announced
Wednesday is the last big payment-protection provision Lloyds
expects to take.
U.K. regulators have proposed a 2019 deadline for claiming
compensation, later than Lloyds thought.
The bank also bolstered its capital cushion by reclassifying
GBP20 billion of U.K. government bonds on its balance sheet as
available for sale, as opposed to holding them to maturity.
--Max Colchester
NASDAQ
Earnings Decline On Lower Volume
Nasdaq Inc. said its quarterly profit declined, hurt by lower
volatility and trading volumes, while acquisitions helped spur an
increase in revenue.
Earnings dropped to $131 million, or 77 cents a share, from $138
million, or 80 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding
restructuring- and acquisition-related charges and other items,
per-share earnings rose to 91 cents. Revenue increased to 11% to
$585 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a
per-share profit of 90 cents on revenue of $586.2 million. Nasdaq
shares fell 2.5%.
Nasdaq has transformed itself from a U.S.-focused exchange
operator to a global business-services company that includes
markets in the U.S., Canada and Nordic region, as well as investor,
public-relations, technology and data services. This year it closed
deals to buy Chi-X Canada, an alternative trading system for the
Toronto Stock Exchange, and news-release distributor Marketwired.
In May, it bought board portal-systems provider Boardvantage for
$200 million and in June it bought options-exchange operator
International Securities Exchange for $1.1 billion. Acquisitions
added $58 million to revenue.
--Austen Hufford
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 27, 2016 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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