National Bank of Canada plans for growth, reports record net income

By Lisa Kerner

Charlotte, N.C., Dec. 8 - National Bank of Canada plans to continue with its mix of organic growth, acquisitions and returning capital to shareholders, according to remarks made by company executives during the bank's fiscal fourth-quarter earnings call on Thursday.

The company has stopped its share buyback program but may reinstitute the program in 2012, limiting the buyback to 2% of the shares outstanding.

For the fiscal fourth quarter ended Oct. 31, National Bank of Canada had net income of C$294 million, a 2% increase from the prior-year period.

The bank had record net income for the full-year period of C$1.74 billion and raised its dividend by 6% to C$0.75 per share for the next quarter, said president and chief executive officer Louis Vachon.

Total revenues for the fiscal fourth quarter were C$1.19 billion, up from C$1.01 billion for the prior-year period.

The acquisition of Wellington West Holdings Inc. pushed up operating expenses in the quarter to C$776 million, a 5% increase from the same quarter of 2010.

At Oct. 31, the company had total assets of C$156.3 billion, compared with C$145.3 billion as of Oct. 31, 2010.

The Montreal-based financial services company also reported a subsequent event. On Nov. 2, it redeemed for cancellation C$500 million of subordinated debentures maturing on Nov. 2, 2016 at par plus accrued interest.

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