Laurentian Bank is reporting net income before goodwill of $23.6 million for the quarter ended July 31, compared to $19.6 million for the same period in 2000, an increase of 20%.

Diluted earnings per share were 88¢ for the third quarter of 2001, compared to 80¢ in 2000. Return on common shareholders’ equity before goodwill was 13.4% for the quarter, compared to 13.6% in 2000,

The third quarter results include the following special items:

Laurentian says its third-quarter results include a dilution gain of $12.4 million ($12.4 million after income taxes) arising from the IPO of 6.4 million treasury common shares of B2B Trust. The results also include a $17.5 million ($11.4 million after income taxes) provision for related to the restructuring of certain Retail Banking operations and the group’s Wealth Management activities

For the first nine months of the current fiscal year, net income before goodwill totalled $70.3 million or $2.63 diluted earnings per share, compared to $53.0 million or $2.11 diluted earnings per share in 2000, an increase of 25%. Return on shareholders’ equity before goodwill was 13.8% for the first nine months of 2001, while it was 12.3% in 2000.

Commenting on third quarter activities, Henri-Paul Rousseau, president and CEO said: “The bank is pleased with these results and its stronger capital position. The Bank’s lines of business have continued to generate growth while the Quebec Scotiabank branches acquisition has generated the expected synergies”

Excluding the $12.4 million dilution gain, total revenue grew 21% to $153.7 million in 2001 from $127.2 million in 2000 due to the acquisition of the Scotiabank branches, which took effect in fiscal 2001.

Net interest income reached 2.13% of average assets in
2001 compared to 2.05% in 2000. Core non-interest income grew from $51.1 million in 2000 to $60 million in 2001 due to higher loan and deposit fee income in retail and commercial operations.

Excluding the $17.5 million provision, non-interest expenses increased from $89.7 million to $107 million, representing an increase of 19% over 2000. The efficiency ratio, excluding special items, improved from 70.9% in 2000 to 70.4% in 2001.

Assets under administration stood at $12.75 billion at July 31, 2001 and 2000. There was a slight increase in mutual fund assets and mortgage loans under management resulting from securitization activities offset by a slight decrease in trust assets and the market value of self-directed plans.

The net contribution of other activities increased to $1.4 million in the third quarter from a loss of ($1.5) million in 2000. These results reflect the dilution gain, the restructuring provision and increased contributions from brokerage operations and Treasury and Financial Markets in 2001.The Brokerage subsidiary, Laurentian Bank Securities, contributed$0.1 million to the Bank’s net income during the quarter compared to a loss of $(0.3) million in 2000. It presently manages total assets of $2.1 billion, including its own assets of $1.1 billion and its customers’ portfolios of $1 billion.