Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) reported second-quarter fiscal 2016 results before markets opened Friday morning. The global bank reported diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.24 on revenue of $17.55 billion. In the same period a year ago, the bank reported EPS of $1.51 on revenue of $19.47 billion. Second-quarter results also compare to the consensus estimates for EPS of $1.10 on revenue of $17.47 billion.

In early June the bank warned that profits for the quarter could drop by as much as 25%, making the reported results much better than both the bank and analysts had feared.

The company reported that Citi Holdings revenues fell 57% year over year due to continued reductions in assets and smaller gains on asset sales. At the end of the second quarter, Citi Holdings’ assets totaled $66 billion, down 47% year over year and 10% sequentially. Citigroup had agreed to an additional $7 billion in asset reductions at the end of the second quarter.

Quarterly profits rose 14% sequentially to $4 billion and fell 14% year over year. Net income fell year over year as a result of lower revenues and a higher effective tax rate, partially offset by lower cost of credit and lower operating expenses.

The bank’s allowance for loan losses totaled $12.3 billion for the quarter, down from $14.1 billion in the prior year quarter. Loans totaled $634 billion, approximately flat year over year, and up 2% in constant dollars.

Bank CEO Michael Corbat said:

Nearly all of our net income came from our core businesses and we continued to reduce non-core assets in Citi Holdings. We significantly improved our efficiency ratio, return on assets and return on tangible common equity from the first quarter. We also grew loans in both our consumer and institutional businesses, reduced expenses, and utilized additional deferred tax assets, bringing the total utilized to $10 billion over the last four years. This utilization fuels our ability to generate regulatory capital and, with the Fed’s non-objection to our capital plan, I am pleased that we will significantly increase the amount of capital returned to our shareholders over the next year.

The bank did not offer guidance in its press release, but the consensus estimates call for third-quarter EPS of $1.17 on revenues of $17.37 billion. The EPS estimate for the 2016 fiscal year is $4.50 on revenues of $69.91 billion.

Shares traded up about 0.9% in the premarket Friday morning at $44.85, having closed on Thursday at $44.45. The current 52-week range is $34.52 to $60.95. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of $54.63 before the results were announced.

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