Citigroup Q3 profit up 7.6% on asset sale benefit, cost cuts

Citigroup Inc reported a 7.6 per cent increase in quarterly profit from a gain on an asset sale, lower costs and better-than-expected trading revenue.

The fourth-biggest US bank by assets said on Thursday that net income rose to $4.13 billion in the third quarter ended Sept. 30 from $3.84 billion a year earlier.

Earnings per share rose about 15 percent to $1.42 from $1.24 as the company shrank the number of shares outstanding by 7 per cent- buying back stock under its biggest capital return plan approved by the US Federal Reserve.

Results included a $355 million gain, worth 13 cents a share, from the previously disclosed sale of a fixed income market analytics and index business.

Analysts on average had expected earnings of $1.32, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. It was not immediately clear if the numbers were comparable.

JPMorgan Chase & Co, the biggest US bank by assets, earlier on Thursday reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit, but said its bond trading revenue slumped 27 percent.