BMO boosts dividend as its profit increases
Bank’s quarterly payment to shareholders climbs to 88 cents per share
Bank of Montreal raised its dividend Tuesday as it reported a fourth-quarter profit of $1.35 billion, up 11 per cent from a year ago.
The bank increased its quarterly payment to shareholders by two cents to 88 cents per share.
Bank of Montreal’s profit of the quarter ended Oct. 31 amounted to $2.02 per share, up from $1.21 billion or $1.83 per share a year ago.
The lender had $5.28 billion in quarterly revenue, compared with $4.98 billion during the fourth quarter of last year.
For its full financial year, BMO earned $4.63 billion or $6.92 per share, up from $4.41 billion or $6.57 per share last year.
Revenue totalled $21.09 billion compared with $19.39 billion in the previous year.
“These results reflect, in addition to a strong and diversified business model, the role our technology capabilities are playing in differentiating our offering and the customer experience we are able to deliver,” CEO Bill Downe said in a statement.
“They are allowing us to be faster and more efficient while delivering ever-increasing value. In every part of the bank, we balanced decisions to improve operating efficiencies with those aimed at enabling future growth.”
BMO was the last of the five biggest Canadian banks to report its fourthquarter and year-end results.
Combined, the five lenders — including Royal Bank, TD Bank, Scotiabank and CIBC — raked in $9.13 billion in fourth-quarter profits, in spite of headwinds such as rock-bottom interest rates, the oil price plummet and a slowdown in consumer borrowing.
That’s up more than 10 per cent from the $8.27 billion the five banks earned during the fourth quarter of last year.
Their combined quarterly revenue was $33.72 billion, up 10 per cent from $30.66 billion a year ago.
On an annual basis, the five big banks had a combined $35.69 billion in net income, up seven per cent from $33.26 billion in fiscal 2016.
Revenue for all five big banks for the full year was $135.19 billion, compared with $124.04 billion last year.