Citigroup released its latest earnings report before opening bell this morning, posting earnings of $1.35 per share on $18.12 billion in revenue. Wall Street had been looking for earnings of $1.23 per share and $17.75 billion in revenue. In last year’s first quarter, the firm reported $1.10 per share in earnings and $17.56 billion in revenue.

By http://www.citigroup.com/ [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Citigroup reports growth in two of three segments

Net income rose from $3.5 billion in last year’s first quarter to $4.1 billion this year. The firm said higher revenues in its Institutional Clients Group and Global Consumer Banking segment drove the first quarter revenue increase, although a decline in Corporate and Other revenue partially offset those gains.

Citigroup’s consumer banking revenue rose to $7.82 billion from $7.71 billion in the same quarter a year ago. Institutional clients revenue surged to $9.13 billion from $7.9 billion in last year’s first quarter. North America revenue rose to $8.4 billion from $7.81 billion last year. Equity market revenue ticked higher to $769 million from $697 million in the year-ago quarter. Fixed income markets revenue rose to $3.62 billion from $3.05 billion.

Citigroup’s earnings momentum continues

“The momentum we saw across many of our businesses towards the end of last year carried into the first quarter, resulting in significantly better overall performance than a year ago,” Citigroup Chief Executive Officer Michael Corbat said in a statement. “Revenues increased in both our consumer and institutional lines of business, most notably in areas where we have been investing such as Equities, U.S. Cards and Mexico. We grew loans and deposits and achieved an efficiency ratio of just under 58%, an ROA of 91bps and a ROTCE ex-DTA of over 10%, showing good progress towards achieving our near-term financial targets.”

Citigroup’s tangible book value per share rose to $65.94 from $62.58, while its book value per share amounted to $75.86, an increase from the year-ago quarter’s $71.47 per share.