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October 15, 2003 Wachovia Earns Record $1.1 Billion; 3rd Quarter EPS Up 26% to 83 Cents Strategies to Boost Revenue Growth, Reduce Credit Costs and Control Expenses Accelerate Momentum Supplemental Quarterly Earnings Report (PDF) 3rd QUARTER 2003 COMPARED WITH 3rd QUARTER 2002
Lines of Business Highlights: General Bank, Capital Management, Wealth Management, Corporate and Investment Banking [IMAGE: "Highlights"] CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Wachovia Corp. (NYSE:WB) today reported third quarter 2003 net income available to common stockholders of $1.1 billion, or 83 cents per share, compared with $913 million, or 66 cents per share, in the third quarter of 2002. Earnings per share in the third quarter of 2003 included after-tax net merger-related and restructuring expenses of 6 cents per share, as well as a 1 cent per share gain related to the cumulative effect of a change in accounting principle. In the third quarter of 2002, earnings included 5 cents per share of after-tax net merger-related and restructuring expenses. “Our earnings momentum has accelerated for the past two years, driven by our strategies to boost revenue growth, reduce credit costs and control expenses,” said Ken Thompson, chairman and CEO. “Our third quarter results again represent strong performance in an economic environment that is still finding its footing. I'm particularly pleased to see record results in each of our four core businesses. Our balanced business model reflects outstanding results in our General Bank and growing strength in our Capital Management, Wealth Management, and Corporate and Investment Bank businesses, which are well positioned for an improving economy. Our management team is disciplined and focused on results, and we believe we are poised to continue to achieve our goal of consistent, annual double digit earnings growth.” Earnings for this goal exclude merger-related and restructuring expenses. [IMAGE: "Wachovia Corporation"] Provision expense declined to $81 million reflecting continued improvement in asset quality, particularly in the Corporate and Investment Bank, as well as the shift in loan mix toward consumer real estate secured loans. Third quarter 2003 net charge-offs declined 41 percent from the third quarter of 2002 to $132 million, or an annualized 0.33 percent of average net loans. Total nonperforming assets including loans held for sale declined 18 percent from the third quarter of 2002 to $1.7 billion in the third quarter of 2003. Noninterest expense increased 21 percent from the third quarter of 2002, largely due to the addition of the Prudential Financial retail brokerage business to Wachovia Securities, LLC. Excluding the impact of this transaction, expenses would have risen approximately 3 percent. Average loans in the third quarter of 2003 were $158 billion, a 4 percent increase from the third quarter of 2002, reflecting higher residential mortgage and student loan balances, dampened by continued lower corporate loan demand. Average core deposits increased 11 percent from the third quarter of 2002 to $186 billion, while average low-cost core deposits increased 22 percent from the third quarter a year ago to $146 billion. Lines of BusinessThe following discussion covers the results for Wachovia's four core business segments and is on a segment earnings basis, which excludes net merger-related and restructuring expenses, other intangible amortization, and the cumulative effect of a change in accounting principle. Segment earnings are the basis upon which Wachovia manages and allocates capital to its business segments. Pages 10 and 11 include a reconciliation of segment results to Wachovia's consolidated results of operations in accordance with GAAP. [IMAGE: "General Bank"] General Bank [IMAGE: "Capital Markets"] Capital Management [IMAGE: "Wealth"] Wealth Management [IMAGE: "Corporate"] Corporate and Investment Banking Wachovia Corporation (NYSE:WB) is one of the largest providers of financial services to retail, brokerage and corporate customers throughout the East Coast and the nation, with assets of $389 billion and stockholders' equity of $33 billion at September 30, 2003. Its four core businesses, the General Bank, Capital Management, Wealth Management, and the Corporate and Investment Bank, serve 9 million households, including 900,000 businesses, primarily in 11 East Coast states and Washington, D.C. Its broker-dealer, Wachovia Securities, LLC, serves clients in 48 states. Global services are provided through more than 30 international offices. Online banking and brokerage products and services also are available through Wachovia.com. Forward-Looking Statements Explanation of Wachovia's Use of Certain Non-GAAP Financial Measures Wachovia believes these non-GAAP financial measures provide information useful to investors in understanding the underlying operational performance of the company, its business and performance trends and facilitates comparisons with the performance of others in the financial services industry. Specifically, Wachovia believes that the exclusion of merger-related and restructuring expenses and cumulative effect of a change in accounting principle permits evaluation and a comparison of results for on-going business operations, and it is on this basis that Wachovia's management internally assesses the company's performance. Those non-operating items are excluded from Wachovia's segment measures used internally to evaluate segment performance in accordance with GAAP because management does not consider them particularly relevant or useful in evaluating the operating performance of our business segments. In addition, because of the significant amount of deposit base intangible amortization, Wachovia believes that the exclusion of this expense provides investors with consistent and meaningful comparisons to other financial services firms. Also, Wachovia management makes recommendations to its board of directors about dividend payments based on reported earnings excluding merger-related and restructuring expenses, other intangible amortization and the cumulative effect of a change in accounting principle (cash earnings), and has communicated certain cash dividend payout ratio goals to investors. Management believes the cash dividend payout ratio is useful to investors because it provides investors with a better understanding of and permits investors to monitor Wachovia's dividend payout policy. Wachovia also believes the presentation of net interest income on a tax-equivalent basis ensures comparability of net interest income arising from both taxable and tax-exempt sources and is consistent with industry standards. In addition, since Wachovia operates one of the largest retail brokerage businesses in our industry, we have presented an overhead efficiency ratio excluding these brokerage services, which management believes is useful to investors in comparing the performance of our banking business with other banking companies. Further, Wachovia consummated its retail securities brokerage combination with Prudential Financial in the third quarter and has excluded the effect of that transaction from certain performance measures, which management believes is useful to investors in comparing those performance measures with historical periods. Although Wachovia believes the above non-GAAP financial measures enhance investors' understanding of its business and performance, these non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered an alternative to GAAP basis financial measures. Earnings Conference Call and Supplemental Materials Webcast Instructions: To gain access to the webcast, which will be "listen-only," go to Wachovia.com/investor and click on the link "Wachovia Third Quarter Earnings Audio Webcast." In order to listen to the webcast, you will need to download either Real Player or Media Player. Teleconference Instructions: The telephone number for the conference call is 1-888-357-9787 for U.S. callers or 1-706-679-7342 for international callers. You will be asked to tell the answering coordinator your name and the name of your firm. Mention the conference Access Code: Thompson. Replay: Wednesday, October 15 at 1:30 p.m. EDT through 4 p.m. EDT on Friday, November 14. Replay telephone number is 1-706-645-9291; access code 2784044. Investors seeking further information should contact the Investor Relations team: Alice Lehman at 704-374-4139 or Ellen Taylor at 704-383-1381. Media seeking further information should contact the Corporate Media Relations team: Mary Eshet at 704-383-7777 or Christy Phillips at 704-383-8178. |
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