By Adriano Marchese


Bank of Nova Scotia on Tuesday reported a better-than-expected rise in first-quarter profit, while revenue fell by less than analysts had forecast.

For the three months ended Jan. 31, the Canadian banking and financial-services company said earnings per share were 2.14 Canadian dollars, the equivalent of US$1.69, up from C$1.86 a year earlier.

Net income attributable to equity holders of the bank was C$2.65 billion, compared with C$2.31 billion a year earlier, while return on equity rose to 15.8% from 14.2%, it said.

In particular, the company benefited from strong net income from its Canadian banking segment, which rose to C$1.2 billion from C$911 million, it said.

Meanwhile, provision for credit losses fell to C$222 million from C$764 million, it said.

Adjusted earnings were C$2.15 a share, beating analyst expectations of C$2.05 a share, taken from FactSet.

Total revenue fell slightly, to C$8.05 billion from C$8.07 billion, but it beat analyst expectations of C$7.88 billion.

The bank said it maintained a common equity Tier 1 capital ratio, a measure of its core equity capital, of 12% at the end of the period, a decrease of around 30 basis points.

The bank declared a quarterly dividend of C$1.00 for each common share.

President and Chief Executive Brian Porter said: "2022 has started well reflecting the full earnings power of the bank, with very strong operating results in all our four business lines. This quarter had strong loan growth, along with good fee income growth."


Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-01-22 0651ET