Citigroup Earnings Soar as Legal Costs Plunge

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) reported fiscal fourth-quarter and full-year 2015 results before markets opened Friday. The investment bank and financial services giant reported quarterly adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.06 on revenue of $18.64 billion. In the same period a year ago, Citi reported EPS of $0.06 on revenue of $17.89 billion. Fourth-quarter results also compare to the consensus estimates for EPS of $1.05 on revenue of $17.87 billion.

For the full year, adjusted EPS totaled $5.35 on revenues of $76.1 billion, compared with 2014 EPS of $2.20 on revenues of $77.27 billion. Analysts were looking for EPS of $5.44 on revenues of $75.66 billion.

Net income rose 4% excluding a credit valuation adjustment/debit valuation adjustment. Excluding currency exchange effects, net income rose 9%, driven by a 3% rise in Citicorp revenues and a 61% increase in Citi Holdings.

Expenses dropped 23% year over year from $14.43 billion to $11.1 billion. Sequentially, the bank’s expenses rose 4%. Citi said that the drop in expenses was mainly related to lower legal expenses and repositioning costs. For the full year, the bank’s expenses fell 15% on an adjusted basis.

Citi’s allowance for loan losses totaled $12.6 billion at the end of the quarter, 2.06% of total loans, down from $16 billion a year ago (2.5% of the loan total). The bank added $517 million to its credit reserves in the quarter and $409 million for the year.

Loans fell 4% to $618 billion while deposits rose 1% to $908 billion.
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Citi increased its Basel III Tier 1 common equity ratio from 10.6% at the end of 2014 to 12% at the end of last year. The bank also raised its tangible book value per share by 7% from $56.71 to $60.61.

CEO Michael Corbat said:

Overall, we had strong performance during 2015. The $17.1 billion we generated in net income was the highest since 2006, when our company was very different in terms of headcount, footprint, mix of businesses and assets. … Having generated $50 billion in regulatory capital over the last three years, we have already exceeded regulatory thresholds for the Common Equity Tier 1 Capital and Supplementary Leverage ratios. This progress allowed us to begin returning meaningful capital to our shareholders. We have made sustainable investments not only in our capital planning process but also in the risk, control and compliance functions, which are critical to maintaining our license to do business. We have undoubtedly become a simpler, smaller, safer and stronger institution.

The bank did not offer guidance in its press release, but the consensus estimates call for first-quarter EPS of $1.48 on revenues of $19.12 billion. The EPS estimate for the 2016 fiscal year is now $5.68 on revenues of $75.31 billion.

Shares fell to a new 52-week low of $42.12 Friday morning. The 52-week high is $60.95. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of $63.63 before the results were announced.