Citi beats first quarter profit and sales forecasts

Heightened trading activity as the interest rate cycle in the US turns boosted Citi's revenues and profits well past analysts' forecasts during the first quarterof 2017.

Citi posted top-line growth of 3% in comparison to the year ago period to reach $18.12bn, versus the $17.76bn seen by the analyst consensus.

The main drivers of that were the Institutional Clients Group and Global Consumer Banking units.

That improvement dropped straight down to the lender's bottom line, with first quarter profits up 17% from the year-ago period to $4.09bn.

Profits also benefitted from a lower cost of credit, the lender said in a statement.

Citi CEO Michael Corbat said: "The momentum we saw across many of our businesses towards the end of last year carried into the first quarter, resulting in significantly better overall performance than a year ago. Revenues increased in both our consumer and institutional lines of business, most notably in areas where we have been investing such as Equities, US Cards and Mexico."

On a reported basis, earnings per share stood at $1.35, for a 23% increase on the first quarter of 2016 level of $1.10, helped in partby a 6% decrease in the average number of diluted outstanding shares.

Stripping out one-time charges EPS rose to $1.27, ahead of forecasts calling for earnings of $1.24.

As of 1326 GMT shares in Citi were down 0.88% to $58.51.