Citizens Financial Group Reports 39% Profit Plunge

Citizens Financial Group Inc. said profit in its latest quarter plunged as revenue declined and as the lender continues to restructure.

Still, adjusted per-share earnings came in above Wall Street expectations while revenue matched estimates.

The Providence, R.I.-based regional bank reported earnings of $190 million, down sharply from $313 million a year earlier. On a per-share basis, profit fell to 35 cents from 56 cents. Excluding restructuring charges, among other items, earnings per share rose to 40 cents from 37 cents. Revenue dropped 18% to $1.2 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters anticipated 36 cents in earnings per share and $1.2 billion in revenue.

Citizens, which went public last year, said during the quarter it took a $40 million hit related to restructuring efforts and its separation from Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC. RBS is Citizens' largest holder and Citizens has been steadily buying back stock from RBS, which plans to divest its entire stake by the end of next year. In the June quarter, Citizens bought back 10.5 million shares and took the RBS position down to 40.8%.

A larger provision for credit losses, up 57% from a year earlier, also dented profit. The lender said the increase reflects higher net-chargeoffs compared with recoveries in the prior year. It joins fellow regional banks Comerica Inc. and Regions Financial Corp. in boosting loss provisions over the quarter.

As part of Citizens' unyoking from RBS and its continuing transformation, the lender has been building out its capital- and global-markets offerings. Capital-markets fees increased 15% to $30 million in the latest quarter, while foreign-exchange and trade-finance fees were flat at $22 million. Overall noninterest income declined 44% to $360 million, but excluding a gain from a divestiture that boosted the comparable period, noninterest income rose 2.3%.

Net-interest margin, an important gauge of lending profitability, fell to 2.72% from 2.87% a year earlier and 2.77% in the first quarter. Executives had in April warned that the metric would be down sequentially as the lender, like others, feels the pinch from low interest rates.

Average loans and leases increased 1.8% to $92.6 billion as commercial loans rose 10% and retail loans grew 8%.

Citizens, which is targeting cost savings of $200 million by the end of 2016, said noninterest expense fell 11% in the second quarter as restructuring charges eased. The company's efficiency ratio, where lower is better, rose to 70% from 64% a year earlier

Shares in the company, up about 24% since the IPO, were inactive premarket.

Write to Lisa Beilfuss at [e-mail]

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