Bank of America posts fourth-quarter profit vs year-ago loss

Bank of America reported a fourth-quarter profit, reversing a year-earlier loss, boosted by one-time items and lower expenses for bad loans.The second-largest US bank by assets on Thursday said net income applicable to common shareholders was $1.58bn, or 15¢ per share, compared with a loss of $1.6bn, or 16¢ per share, a year earlier.Like other large banks, Bank of America reported a decline in investment banking and sales and trading revenue.The Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank benefited from pretax gains of $5.3bn from the sale of China Construction Bank shares, and gains from the exchange of trust preferred securities and the sale of debt securities.Results were also boosted by a lower provision for bad loans. The bank set aside $2.9bn in the fourth quarter for loan losses, down from $5.1bn a year ago.Bank of America, which is working to shed risky assets, said its total loans decreased to $926bn from $932bn in the third quarter.Sales and trading revenue in Bank of America’s banking and markets unit increased to $1.9bn, excluding an accounting charge, from $1.1bn in the third quarter but was down from $2.4bn a year ago. Investment banking fees were flat from the third quarter at $1bn but down from $1.6bn a year ago.

Morgan StanleyA special charge pushed Morgan Stanley into the red in the fourth quarter, but the Wall Street bank still posted better-than-expected results by cutting noncompensation costs, sending its shares higher.Morgan Stanley lost $275mn, or 15¢ per share, compared with earnings of $600mn, or 41¢ per share, a year earlier. The results included a loss of $1.7bn, or 59¢ per share, related to a settlement with MBIA Inc, announced previously.The loss from continuing operations came to 14¢ a share, far better than the loss of 57¢ a share that Wall Street analysts had expected, on average, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.Like its Wall Street rivals, Morgan Stanley’s top-line performance showed the impact of the European sovereign debt crisis. Overall revenue dropped 26%, to $5.7bn, the weakest figure since the second quarter of 2009.For the full year, the bank’s $16.4bn in compensation represented 51% of net revenue.

Sony EricssonMobile phone manufacturer Sony Ericsson said yesterday that intense competition slammed fourth quarter sales and forced it to post a loss of €247mn ($318mn) for the year, compared with a €90mn net profit in 2010. The Japanese-Swedish mobile phone joint venture, which will dissolve within the next few weeks after Sony decided to buy out its partner, saw sales in the final quarter of 2011 plunge 15.7% year-on-year and 18.8% from the previous three-month period to €1.29bn. Sales dropped 17.2% overall in 2011. Sony Ericsson said its final quarter of 2011 had also been hit by €93mn in restructuring charges linked to a programme launched in December and expected to be completed by the end of this year including job cuts to reduce costs and boost competitiveness. Even excluding those charges though, the company’s operating margin plunged to minus 10%. The number of units shipped in the fourth quarter dropped to 9.0mn however, from 9.5mn in the third quarter and 11.2mn in the final quarter of 2010.