Laurentian Bank reported slightly stronger than expected results today for the second quarter ended April 30. Net income before goodwill for the quarter was $23.1 million, or 88¢ a share.

This is up from 73¢ a share for the same period in 2000. Return on common shareholders’ equity before goodwill was 14% for the quarter, compared to 12.9% a year ago. The improvement is being attributed to total revenue growth of 19% to $146.9 million in 2001 due to the acquisition of the Scotiabank branches in Quebec last summer, and improved loan and deposit margins and internal growth.

Laurentian expects to realize the full planned cost synergies of the branch acquisitions during the coming quarters now that the integration is completed. Cost synergies will result from the full integration of the Scotiabank branch business on Laurentian’s systems, the merging of several branches and the end of the servicing agreement with Scotiabank. Once this acquisition is fully integrated, the bank expects that the efficiency ratio of its retail banking sector will have improved by 4 to 5% year over year.

Net interest income grew 32% to $88.2 million, and non-interest income grew slightly from $57.0 million in 2000 to $58.7 million in 2001. The increase is attributable to higher lending and deposit fee income associated with additional volumes; brokerage and securitization revenues were down slightly.

For the second quarter of 2001, net income contributions were 27% from Retail Banking, 36% from B2B Trust & Agency Banking and 37% from Commercial and Corporate Banking. The net income contributions were 23%, 36% and 41% respectively during the second quarter of 2000.

“The bank is pleased with these results, meeting its profitability targets for the quarter,” says Henri-Paul Rousseau, president and CEO. “The Quebec Scotiabank branch conversion and integration was completed in early May 2001 and we are grateful for the support of our employees and customers. Our level of business retention remains high. With the North American economic slowdown that could temporarily affect loan and deposit growth, we will continue to manage our resources and costs cautiously in the coming quarters.”