Topic: How To Invest

The Successful Investor Hotline – Friday, June 2, 2017

Article Excerpt

BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA, $76.68, Toronto symbol BNS, has agreed to sell its banking operations in Malaysia to Cathay Financial Holdings Co. for $255 million U.S. The sale is part of the bank’s plan to focus on its more-profitable operations in Asia. It expects to complete the sale by the end of 2017. Meantime, Bank of Nova Scotia’s earnings in the three months ended April 30, 2017, jumped 30.1%, to $2.1 billion from $1.6 billion a year earlier. Due to fewer shares outstanding, per-share earnings rose 31.7%, to $1.62 from $1.53. If you exclude costs related to a restructuring plan in the year-earlier quarter, per-share earnings gained 10.1%, to $1.63 from $1.48. That beat the consensus estimate of $1.57 a share. The restructuring includes the closure of branches and the expansion of the bank’s online banking platforms. Overall, the plan should cut $750 million in costs each year, starting in 2019. In the quarter, earnings from Canadian banking operations (45% of the total) fell 0.6%….