Dallas, Texas 04/25/2014 (FINANCIALSTRENDS) – KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) which is a holding company for host of financial services company including KeyBank National Association reported its first quarter operations results on 17th April. The earnings highlight includes the net income of $232 million for the first quarter which translated into 26 cents per share earnings for the quarter. This was slightly above the $229 million it had reported in sequentially in 4Q13 and well above the $196 million it had reported in 1Q13. EPS in 1Q13 had come in at 21 cents per share.
Expressing his happiness at the strong beginning to the fiscal year, KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Beth Mooney has been quoted to have said that, “This was a solid quarter for Key, delivering on our commitments to generate positive operating leverage, maintain our strong risk management practices, and remain disciplined in the way we manage capital.”
Other key highlights from the earnings call were as follows. Loans disbursal was up 4 percent in the quarter, thanks mainly to the 8.9 percent increase seen in the Commercial and agri loans during the reporting period. Deposits from customers went up by 3.9 percent driven by the buyout of commercial mortgage servicing business.
These gains were offset by nearly $20 million dip in net interest income, caused by “asset yields and higher loan fees”. On the contrary, income from the non interest header was up $10 million. Non interest expenses were also down by $19 million. In the reporting quarter, the net asset quality also got better as the net loan write offs was down to 0.15 percent of average loans as against the 0.38 percent it had recorded in 1Q13.
The firm also took a series of steps in the reporting quarter in order to increase the share holder value. It repurchased shares worth $542 million in the quarter and announced a dividend of $0.065 per share for the quarter.
