Bank of Nova Scotia’s Jarislowsky deal lifts Canada profit to record

Bloomberg

Bank of Nova Scotia’s purchase of Jarislowsky Fraser is already paying off. The acquisition of the Montreal-based money manager, along with improved margins and lower provisions, contributed to record Canadian banking profit in the fiscal third quarter, Scotiabank said. Earnings from domestic banking rose 8 percent to C$1.13 billion ($880 million) from a year earlier.
The C$950 million purchase of Jarislowsky Fraser in May is one of six deals announced by Scotiabank in the past nine months, as the Toronto-based lender has committed about C$7 billion of capital to acquisitions at home and abroad. Two other deals also closed in the quarter: a C$2.9 billion purchase of a 68 percent stake in Chilean lender BBVA Chile and a takeover of Citigroup Inc.’s Colombian consumer and small business operations.
Net income fell 7.8 percent to C$1.94 billion, or C$1.55 a share, from C$2.1 billion, or C$1.66, a year earlier. Adjusted earnings, which exclude some costs associated with its acquisitions in Chile and Colombia, were C$1.76 a share. The average estimate of 12 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was for adjusted earnings of C$1.77. The bank raised its quarterly dividend 3.7 percent to 85 cents a share.