Wednesday, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM, CM.TO), reported a profit for the first quarter, reversing a loss posted in the same period last year.
The Toronto, Canada-based company reported net income for the first quarter of C$147 million or C$0.29 per share, compared to a net loss of C$1.56 billion or C$4.39 per share in the year-ago quarter.
Cash earnings were C$120 million or C$0.31 per share, compared to a cash loss of C$1.48 billion or C$4.36 per share a year ago.
Total revenue was C$2.02 billion in the latest quarter.
Net interest income was up 16% over last year to C$1.33 billion, mainly due to lower treasury revenue, offset in part by favorable prime/BA spreads, higher income in U.S. real estate finance and volume growth in retail deposits and lending products.
Non-interest income was C$689 million, compared to a non-interest loss of C$1.68 billion in the same quarter last year, primarily due to higher structured credit losses in the last year quarter.
Provision for credit losses was up C$112 million or 65% from the same quarter last year, primarily due to higher losses in the cards portfolio, driven by higher delinquencies and bankruptcies, and higher provisions net of recoveries in the corporate lending portfolio, both related to the deteriorating economic environment.
Expenses decreased to C$1.31 billion from C$1.35 billion a year ago, due primarily to lower performance-related compensation and effective cost management.
Retail markets reported net income of C$562 million for the quarter, down from C$660 million the first quarter of 2008. Retail markets' revenue edged up to C$2.4 billion over last year.
World markets reported a net loss of C$413 million for the first quarter. Revenues were negative C$368 million compared with negative revenues of C$318 million in the previous year.
In a separate press release, CIBC declared a dividend of 87 cents per share on common shares for the quarter ending April 30, 2009 payable on April 28, to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 27, 2009.
CM is currently trading at US$36.36, up US$1.88 or 5.45% on the NYSE.
CM.TO is currently trading at C$45.03, up C$1.75 or 4.04% on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com