John Morstad/The Globe and Mail
Laurentian Bank says its latest quarterly profits increased by 5 per cent to $33.5-million as revenue rose to $189.5-million.
The Quebec-based bank earned $1.27 per diluted share for the period ended Jan. 31. That was up from $1.21 a year earlier when it earned $32-million.
Revenues increased five per cent from $180.4-million as net interest income increased to $121.4-million from $120.7-million a year ago on improved loan and deposit growth.
The return on common shareholders' equity fell to 11.9 per cent from 12.3 per cent a year earlier.
Laurentian said credit quality improved as loan losses and impaired loans were reduced.
Total loans and bankers' acceptances increased by $1.2-billion over the last 12 months.
Chief executive officer Rejean Robitaille said the results were among the strongest in the bank's history.
"We have seen growth in business activity in all business lines over the last year," he stated.
Mr. Robitaille said targeted investments in resources and systems are contributing to revenue growth.
The bank's Tier 1 capital ratio inched up slightly to 11.1 per cent.
It is cautiously optimistic about the state of the global economy for the remainder of 2011. While the environment is favourable for exports, it is not strong enough to trigger higher interest rates before mid-year or push the Canadian dollar much above parity.
An acceleration of economic growth in the United States to 3.2 per cent in the fourth quarter should allow Canadian export volumes to expand at their fastest pace since 2004, it said.
Canada's seventh-largest bank and third-largest financial institution in Quebec had $15.5-billion of assets under administration.