Royal Bank Profits Soar

Royal Bank hiked its quarterly dividend Friday after announcing a 19 per cent increase in its second-quarter profits.

Royal (TSX:RY) said it made $907 million in Q2 ($1.37 a share), compared to last year's $760 million ($1.17 a share).

That was a penny a share shy of analysts' consensus. Royal shares fell 10 cents to end at $75.90 on the TSX.

The quarterly dividend will rise from 55 to 61 cents a share. At its current share price, that would result in an increase to the dividend yield from 2.91 per cent to 3.23 per cent.

"We continue to benefit from low interest rates, a strong economy and relatively benign credit conditions," CEO Gord Nixon said in a statement.
Provisions for credit losses dropped from $149 million a year ago to $119 million.

The bank's return on equity surged more than 3 percentage points to 19.9 per cent as net income at each of its business lines improved.

Canada's biggest bank also announced plans to buy back up to 10 million of its shares, representing about 1.5 per cent of its outstanding common stock.