TORONTO (Reuters) -Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce missed analysts’ estimates for fourth-quarter profit on Thursday as it raised loan-loss provisions by 36% in its personal and commercial banking unit, and lifted its dividend 10%.
Canada’s fifth-largest lender increased its dividend to C$1.61 from C$1.46, and said it would buy back up to 10 million shares, about 2.2% of outstanding common stock.
Net income excluding one-off items rose to C$1.57 billion ($1.23 billion), or C$3.37 per share, in the three months ended Oct. 31, from C$1.28 billion, or C$2.79 per share, a year earlier.
Analysts on average had expected the company to report C$3.53 a share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
The bank took provisions for loan losses of C$78 million, with the increase in its personal and commercial banking business offsetting reserve releases in other divisions. Adjusted pre-tax, pre-provision earnings rose 6% to C$2.1 billion.
Similar to peers, CIBC also faced net interest margin challenges and higher costs, with the former down 17 basis points from a year ago in the personal and banking unit and all-bank non-interest expenses up 13% on an adjusted basis.
Those were driven by higher performance-based compensation, it said.
($1 = 1.2796 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by Nichola Saminather and Mehnaz Yasmin; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Jan Harvey)
