Wachovia reports record profits

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Wachovia Corp. beat Wall Street's forecast Wednesday with third-quarter profits of a record $1.1-billion, up 21 percent from $913-million in the same period last year.

Earnings per share in the quarter were 83 cents, up from 66 cents a year ago.

"Our earnings momentum has accelerated for the past two years, driven by our strategies to boost revenue growth, reduce credit costs and control expenses," said Ken Thompson, chairman and chief executive of the bank, which is based in Charlotte, N.C., and is the second largest bank in Florida. "Our third-quarter results again represent strong performance in an economic environment that is still finding its footing."

Excluding merger and restructuring charges and a nonrecurring accounting gain, Wachovia earned 88 cents per share, easily surpassing the consensus estimate of 81 cents of analysts polled by Thomson First Call.

"We believe we are poised to continue to achieve our goal of consistent, annual double-digit earnings growth," Thompson said.

Shares of Wachovia were down 2 cents to close at $44.29 on the New York Stock Exchange.

CHICAGO - Bank holding company Northern Trust Corp., a leading manager of personal trusts, said Wednesday its third-quarter profit rose 18 percent, citing improved economic and equity market conditions.

Net income rose to $113.8-million, or 51 cents a share, from $96.4-million, or 43 cents per share, in the prior third quarter. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call had forecast, on average, earnings of 49 cents a share.

Total assets were $40.7-billion as of Sept. 30, up from $39.7-billion a year earlier.

The company said trust fees for the quarter grew 8 percent, while assets under administration reached a record high of $1.9-trillion, up 33 percent from a year ago.

Shares of Northern Trust closed at $48.02, up 29 cents, or 0.6 percent, on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

SouthTrust Corp. reported what chief executive Wallace D. Malone Jr. called "solid" earnings Wednesday.

The Birmingham, Ala., operators of the 700-branch bank, reported a 13 percent increase in net earnings and a 9 percent increase in earnings per share for the quarter that ended Sept. 30. Net earnings rose to $178.6-million, or 53 cents a share, up from $164.2-million, or 47 cents a share.

"While the economy has been slow to show strong signs of recovery, we are encouraged by the level of borrowing we have seen among our customers, particularly late in the quarter," he said.

The bank's loan production grew to $5.2-billion for the quarter, up $560-million from the same quarter a year ago.

Lower interest rates this year have put pressure on profit margins for all banks, but Malone said he was "encouraged" by trends such as long term interest rates stabilizing and in some cases increasing.

SouthTrust is the fourth-largest bank in the Tampa/St. Petersburg/Clearwater market with $2.4-billion in deposits, or about 7 percent of the market, according to data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. It has 48 branches in the six-county region.

COLUMBUS, Ga. - Synovus Financial Corp. said Wednesday its third-quarter earnings grew 8.4 percent on increases in income from interest and mortgage fees.

The Columbus financial services holding company also named James D. Yancey chairman, replacing James H. Blanchard, who will continue as chief executive.

Yancey, 62, had been president and chief operating officer since 1998. Richard E. Anthony, 57, the company's vice chairman for the past eight years, will now fill those posts.

Synovus said it earned $100-million, or 33 cents a share, on assets of $21-billion. The results matched analyst expectations as polled by Thomson First Call.

In the same period last year, it earned $92-million, or 31 cents a share, on assets of $18.5-billion.

Synovus' interest income, after the loan loss provision, was $178-million in the third quarter, up from $167-million a year ago, while noninterest income increased to $347-million from $312-million a year ago.

The Naples bank holding company eked out a small profit in the quarter that ended Sept. 30 despite taking a pretax charge of $32.3-million in connection with its restructuring and prepayment of a Federal Home Loan Bank debt associated with its plan to spin off its Florida operations.

The company finished with net income of $484,000, or 1 cent a share, for the third quarter this year, compared with $24.1-million, or 51 cents a share, a year ago.

- Times staff writers Mark Albright and Jeff Harrington contributed to the report, which used information from the Associated Press and Dow Jones News Service.