MONTREAL -- National Bank says its quarterly dividend will be raised by four per cent, reflecting its ability to grow profit despite weakening economic conditions.
The Montreal-based bank said it earned $347 million for the three months ended Oct. 31, taking the full-year net income to $1.62 billion.
The dividend will go up by two cents to 54 cents per common share, payable Feb. 1.
"In 2015, National Bank achieved strong financial results in a context of a slowing Canadian economy," National Bank president and CEO Louis Vachon said in a statement.
"Faced with significant changes in the financial services industry, the bank continues to proactively deploy many initiatives that will ensure its long-term success. We also plan on making continued investments to our technology platforms in order to deliver even better services to customers."
The profit growth was in line with analyst estimates but constrained one-time items, notably $62 million after taxes for restructuring costs such as severance pay and write-offs of offices and equipment.
The bank announced in October that it was eliminating "several hundred" jobs mainly in Quebec as part of a restructuring resulting from the economic slowdown and "increasingly fierce competition."
The restructuring was expected to generate $35 million in pre-tax savings, mainly in 2016.
Canada's sixth largest bank said it earned 95 cents per share during the quarter, but it would have been $1.16 per share without the special items.
Its revenues increased three per cent to $1.4 billion in the quarter and by five per cent to $5.75 billion for the year.
The quarterly results were helped by higher trading in Financial Markets, offset by a lighter contribution from Wealth Management. Financial Markets generated $162 million in adjusted profits, up seven per cent from the prior year, helped by higher trading volume.
Wealth Management profits decreased five per cent to $76 million while personal and commercial banking profit grew seven per cent to $187 million.
It recorded $61 million in loan losses during the quarter.
John Aiken of Barclays Capital said the results were "not terribly surprising ."
He also wrote that it wouldn't be a surprise if management discussed launching a stock repurchase program if its capital ratios move above 10 per cent.
Aiken also said the bank's capital ratio doesn't appear to be affected significantly by National's investment in Maple Financial Group. The private Canadian company's subsidiary Maple Bank GmbH is subject to an investigation by German prosecutors over alleged tax irregularities between 2006 and 2010.
National Bank holds a 24.9 per cent stake in Maple Financial Group with a carrying value of $160 million or $138 million net of taxes.