Bottom line hit by more money set aside for potentially bad loans and higher expenses
The Bank of Nova Scotia will focus on areas of profitable and sustainable growth in a bid to improve returns to shareholders going forward, new chief executive Scott Thomson said Feb. 28 after the bank posted first-quarter results that missed expectations.
“We have not delivered the level of total shareholder returns that our shareholders should expect of us,” Thomson said in his first conference call since taking the helm at the bank earlier this month.
The remarks came after the bank reported a drop in profit for the first quarter, as it was hit with higher expenses and set aside more funding for loans that might potentially go sour.
Scotiabank reported net income of $1.8 billion in the three months ending Jan. 31, down 35 per cent from the same time last year. On an adjusted basis, Scotiabank earned approximately $2.4 billion or $1.85 per share, falling short of Bloomberg analyst expectations of $2.02 per share. Adjusted earnings were down about 14 per cent from the approximate $2.8 billion reported this time last year.
The bank’s provisions for credit losses — the amount the bank sets aside in a riskier credit environment — grew to $638 million from $222 million the year before. Scotiabank also recorded higher non-interest expenses at roughly $4.5 billion (up from $4.2 billion a year ago) and total income tax expense of $1.1 billion (up from $864 million in the same period last year), $579 million of which stemmed from the Canada recovery dividend.
The federal government introduced the one-time, 15 per cent banking and life insurer tax based on the average of 2020 and 2021 taxable income exceeding $1 billion in its 2022 budget.
On the conference call, Thomson indicated that the bank would be shifting course to focus on areas of profitable and sustainable growth, echoing a sentiment he expressed earlier this year when he said he saw opportunity to refine Scotia’s international banking segment.
He highlighted that the bank would need to be more disciplined with capital allocation and focus on long-term deposit growth which he said should reduce funding costs and strengthen client relationships.
“The bank’s financial performance in the first quarter of 2023 reflects both the merits of a diversified platform, but also the continued relative pressure on our profitability given our funding profile,” Thomson said during the conference call. “Going forward, we must be consistent and deliberate in our long-term deposit strategies to continue our journey to reduce our reliance on wholesale funding.”
Scotia is more dependent than its peers on funding from sources outside its own deposit channel, in part due to its international banking strategy and because of its smaller market share.
Thomson attributed the bank’s expense growth to higher personnel costs and rising technology investments and said the bank would be more thoughtful about expense control for the rest of the year.
Scotiabank also plans on being more transparent and explicit about forward guidance and milestones, and expressed caution for earnings in the next quarter.
For the first quarter, Scotiabank’s core Canadian banking adjusted profit slipped 10 per cent to about $1.1 billion despite higher revenue as higher credit loss provisions and non-interest expenses weighed on results. The international banking segment’s adjusted earnings grew to $661 million from $552 million from the first quarter of 2022 with higher net interest income and strong non-interest revenues.
The global wealth management segment’s adjusted earnings dipped six per cent to $392 million from last year amid a challenging market.
John Aiken, senior analyst and head of research at Barclays Bank PLC, noted that Scotiabank’s credit was weaker and the bank has been struggling with funding costs, hitting its net interest margins.
“We do not believe that expectations were high for Scotia in the first quarter, but the miss will likely be viewed as a disappointment as margins declined in international (flat domestically),” Aiken said in his Feb. 28 note. “Finally, much of the pressure on Scotia’s earnings came from losses in its corporate segment, which was blamed on funding costs (which remains a relative disadvantage for Scotia) and lower gains.”
Shares of Scotiabank were trading down nearly five per cent at $68.08 in late morning trading in Toronto.
The shares are down nearly 26 per cent over the past year.
• Email: shughes@postmedia.com | Twitter:
The upscale department store chain has a store at the Rideau Centre mall as well as a Nordstrom Rack location at the Ottawa Train Yards shopping centre
The liquidation sales at Nordstrom stores across Canada will begin Tuesday.
A spokesperson for Nordstrom confirmed the impending sales period Monday in an email to The Canadian Press, just after the Ontario Superior Court of Justice gave the U.S. retailer’s Canadian branch permission to start selling off its merchandise.
The upscale department store chain that primarily sells designer apparel, shoes and accessories has six Canadian stores and seven discount Nordstrom Rack locations, including its Rideau Centre location and a Nordstrom Rack at the Ottawa Train Yards shopping centre, which sells merchandise at discounted prices.
When Nordstrom announced the move in early March, it said it expected the Canadian stores to close by late June and 2,500 workers to lose their jobs.
The company initiated the exit from the market because chief executive Erik Nordstrom said, “despite our best efforts, we do not see a realistic path to profitability for the Canadian business.”
Nordstrom opened its first Canadian store in Calgary in 2014, followed by the Ottawa store at the Rideau Centre, which occupied the second and third levels of a former Sears location.
The Rideau Centre store has an alterations and tailoring shop and an energy drinks bar. Merchandise ranges from brand name to designer apparel, housewares, furnishings and beauty products, including brands such as Geox shoes, Gucci, Adidas and Adidas by Stella McCartney.
Later on came Nordstrom Rack, which made its Canadian debut in 2018 at Vaughan Mills, a mall north of Toronto. At the time, Nordstrom said as many as 15 more Rack locations could follow.
Nordstrom promised each Rack store would deliver savings of up to 70 per cent on apparel, accessories, home, beauty and travel items from 38 of the top 50 brands sold in its Canadian department stores.
Nordstrom had trouble with profitability because of its selection of products and the COVID-19 pandemic, said Tamara Szames, executive director and industry adviser of Canadian retail at the NPD Group research firm, a day after Nordstrom announced its exit.
“You would hear a lot of Canadian saying that the assortment wasn’t the same in Canada that it was in the U.S.,” she said.
She noticed Nordstrom started to shift its product mix away from some luxury brands around 2018 and saw it as a sign that the retailer was struggling to maintain its original vision and integrity.
The pandemic made matters worse because many stores were forced to temporarily close their doors to quell the virus and shoppers were less likely to need some of the items Nordstrom sells like dressy apparel because events had been cancelled.
Despite stores reopening and many sectors rebounding, Szames said the apparel business is the only industry NPD Group tracks that has yet to recover from the health crisis.
“The consumer has really been holding back in terms of spendâ¦within that industry.”
At a hearing at Osgoode Hall in Toronto, lawyer Jeremy Dacks, who represented Nordstrom, said the company has “worked hard to achieve a consensual path forward” with landlords, suppliers and a court-appointed monitor to find an orderly way to wind down the business.
The monitor, Alvarez & Marsal Canada, suggested five potential third-party liquidators and Nordstrom was approached by another five. The company decided to go with a joint venture comprised of Hilco Merchant Retail Solutions ULC and Gordon Brothers Canada, which were involved in the liquidation of Target, Sears and Forever 21 in Canada, Dacks said.
They will oversee the sale of merchandise, furniture, fixtures and equipment, but not goods from third parties, which removed products this past weekend, Dacks said. He added that all sales will be final and no returns will be allowed.
Lawyers for Nordstrom landlords Cadillac Fairview, Ivanhoe Cambridge, Oxford Properties Ltd. and First Capital Realty testified Monday that they were pleased with how “smoothly” and “organized” the process has gone so far.
In approving Dacks’ liquidation request, Chief Justice Geoffrey Morawetz agreed, saying Nordstrom is facing a “difficult time, but this process is unfolding in a very cooperative manner.”
Nordstrom required court approval to begin the liquidation because it is winding down its Canadian operations under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, which helps insolvent businesses restructure or end operations in an orderly fashion.
With files from Joanne Laucius
Canadian financial institutions’ regulator moved to reassure investors as the country’s riskiest bank debt joined a global selloff after the value of some Credit Suisse Group AG bonds was wiped out in the bank’s takeover by UBS Group AG.
Canada’s “capital regime preserves creditor hierarchy which helps to maintain financial stability,” the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions said in statement on its website.
Prices of Canadian limited recourse capital notes, known as LRCNs, fell between 2 cents and 5 cents on the dollar Monday before OSFI’s announcement, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named. That has widened the spread on the notes by over 60 basis points compared with Friday’s levels, the people said. Specific levels vary depending on the security.
The bonds are another form of so-called additional tier 1 securities, issued by financial institutions and designed to act as a shock absorber in the system. They can be converted to equity to bolster a bank’s capital if it runs into trouble.
Over the weekend, Swiss regulators triggered a complete writedown of 16 billion francs (US$17.2 billion) of Credit Suisse’s AT1 bonds as part of the rescue plan for the venerable bank. While it wasn’t a surprise that the bonds were likely to take a loss, some investors in the instruments were shocked to be wiped out when Credit Suisse’s shareholders were not.
Under Canada’s capital regime “additional tier 1 and tier 2 capital instruments to be converted into common shares in a manner that respects the hierarchy of claims in liquidation,” said OSFI, referring to a situation in which a bank would reach non-viability status. “Such a conversion ensures that additional tier 1 and tier 2 holders are entitled to a more favorable economic outcome than existing common shareholders who would be the first to suffer losses.”
“Our view is that we don’t expect LRCNs would be wiped out before common equity,” said Furaz Ahmad, a Toronto-based corporate debt strategist at BMO Capital Markets. “OSFI has said that they would convert to common equity, since that is more consistent with traditional insolvency norms and respects the expectations of all stakeholders.”
Earlier Monday, European authorities sought to restore investor confidence in banks’ AT1s by publicly stating that they should only face losses after shareholders are fully written down. AT1s from UBS Group and Deutsche Bank AG fell by more than 10 cents earlier on Monday.
Last week, oil prices booked their worst week since the start of the year, dropping off a cliff on renewed fears about the global economy after the collapse of two big U.S. banks and the near-collapse of Credit Suisse. While most price forecasts for the short term have been bullish because of pro-bullish oil fundamentals, now things are beginning to change. Tight supply, cited by virtually all forecasters as the main reason for oil price rise predictions, is giving way to fears of an economic slowdown that would dent demand and push prices lower.
Goldman Sachs has already revised its oil price forecast for the rest of the year. Previously expecting Brent to hit $100 in the second half, now the investment bank expects the international benchmark to only rise to $94 per barrel in the coming 12 months. For 2024, Goldman analysts see Brent crude at $97 per barrel.
“Oil prices have plunged despite the China demand boom given banking stress, recession fears, and an exodus of investor flows,” Goldman said in a note last week, as quoted by Bloomberg. “Historically, after such scarring events, positioning and prices recover only gradually, especially long-dated prices.”
Indeed, as far as events go, this one left a serious scar. Brent crude went from over $80 per barrel to less than $75 per barrel, and West Texas Intermediate slipped down close to $65 per barrel. And this happened while authoritative forecasters such as the IEA and OPEC recently said they expect stronger demand growth than supply growth.
Related: Humanity On Thin Ice, Says Latest UN Climate Report
According to a recent CNBC report, 41 percent of Americans are preparing for a recession and with a good reason. Despite seemingly endless media debates about whether the world’s largest economy is in a recession already, about to enter a recession, or will manage to avoid a recession, forecasts are not looking optimistic.
“What you’re really seeing is a significant tightening of financial conditions. What the markets are saying is this increases risks of a recession and rightfully so,” Jim Caron, head of macro strategy for global fixed income at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, told CNBC earlier this month.
“Equities are down. Bond yields are down. I think another question is: it looks like we’re pricing in three rate cuts, does that happen? You can’t rule it out,” Caron said.
Reuters’s market analyst John Kemp went further in January when he forecast that one way or another, there will be a global recession, and debates are basically pointless.
Citing the cyclical nature of economic growth, Kemp foresaw two likely scenarios: one, in which recession begins earlier in the year as a natural consequence of events from the last couple of years, and another, in which central bank-pumped growth leads to even higher inflation, which then leads to a slowdown amid lower consumption.
Whichever scenario pans out, if any, it will lead to lower oil demand as recessions normally do. And lower demand will naturally depress oil prices, albeit temporarily. Because lower prices tend to stimulate demand, even amid a recession.
But there is one important detail here. The recession forecasts focus on the UK, the EU, the U.S., and Canada, as well as Australia. There is zero talk about a recession in China or India. Because China and India are going to grow this year, and as they grow, they will consume more oil. Meanwhile, the supply of crude is not going anywhere much further, it seems.
Be that as it may, just because oil demand from China and India, but most notably China, is seen higher this year, it does not mean higher oil prices are all but guaranteed. That’s because China’s economy is very export-oriented, and when consumer countries are in a recession or anything resembling it, these exports will suffer.
Forecasts for Chinese oil demand are still at record highs this year. OPEC said it expected demand from the world’s biggest importer to add more than 700,000 bpd this year for a total of 15.56 million bpd. The IEA, for its part, forecast that demand growth from China will push the oil market into a deficit in the second half of the year. Yet if a recession here or there dampens demand for everything coming out of China, all bets are off.
Because of oil’s fundamentals, all price forecasts are for higher prices towards the end of the year. But the basis for these forecasts came before the bank failures and the bailout of Credit Suisse.
Perhaps the baking panic will let go soon enough, and everything, including oil demand outlooks, will return to normal. Or perhaps the banking panic is a harbinger of worse things to come—things that will affect demand for everything, from crude oil to iPhones. Collectively known as a recession, these things may well prompt some very different oil price forecasts later in the year.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
<!–
–>
Irina is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing on the oil and gas industry.
Elon Musk roasted for bizarre social media posts about Taylor Swift: ‘Stay away from her’
Quick Reaction: Raptors 111, Bucks 118
Investors punish UBS after Credit Suisse rescue, shares plummet
Algorithms are moulding and shaping our politics. Here’s how to avoid being gamed
Biden’s Canada visit is long overdue, expert says
Scientists Identify Intense Heatwaves At The Bottom Of Ocean
Canada denies role in detention, torture of former Guantanamo Bay detainee
UBS to buy Credit Suisse in effort to create stability, Swiss president says
Comments
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.
Join the Conversation