Credit Suisse Stock Up On Q1 Profit Growth; Says Cautiously Optimistic In Q2

(RTTNews) - Shares of Credit Suisse Group AG (CS) were gaining around 3 percent in Swiss trading after the banking major reported Wednesday higher profit in its first quarter, despite weak revenues. Looking ahead, the company said it is cautiously optimistic about its prospects for the second quarter of 2019.

The company said that it remains focused on increasing its returns and creating growing value over the course of 2019 and beyond.

Tidjane Thiam, Chief Executive Officer, said, "Our model is resilient; this allows us to protect our bottom line during periods when markets are challenging and provides upside when conditions improve. The first quarter was one of three very distinct months: a challenging January, a limited recovery in February followed by a strong March, which was our second-highest revenue month in the last 39 months."

For the first quarter, net income attributable to shareholders were 749 million Swiss francs,the highest quarterly profit since third quarter of 2015. This was 8 percent higher than last year's 694 million francs. Earnings per share improved 12 percent to 0.29 francs from 0.26 francs last year.

Sequentially, attributable profit surged 189 percent from the fourth quarter's 259 million francs

In the first quarter, Group reported pre-tax income of 1.06 billion francs edged up 1 percent, despite challenging market conditions.

Net revenues for the quarter, meanwhile, declined 4 percent to 5.39 billion francs from last year's 5.64 billion francs. The drop in revenues primarily reflected weak net revenues in Investment Banking & Capital Markets, Asia Pacific and Global Markets.

Sequentially, net revenues increased 12 percent.

Net interest income dropped 3 percent from last year to 1.53 billion francs and commissions and fees fell 14 percent to 2.61 billion francs.

Provision for credit losses climbed 69 percent from the prior year to 81 million francs.

Assets under management or AuM were 1.43 trillion francs, up 3.7 percent from last year's 1.38 trillion francs. AuM grew 6.2 percent on a sequential basis. Net new assets climbed 43.2 percent in the first quarter.

In Switzerland, Credit Suisse shares were trading at 13.92 francs, up 3.07 percent.