Goldman Sachs: profit falls on provision for credit losses

(CercleFinance.com) - Goldman Sachs said that its profit has been almost cut by half in the first quarter, due in particular to a higher provision for credit losses.


Goldman said net income fell to 1.21 billion dollars, or 3.11 dollars per share, in the first three months of the year, from 2.25 billion dollars, or 5.71 dollars per share, in the same period of 2019.

The consensus was looking for EPS of 3.35 dollars.

The Wall Street bank said that its provision for credit losses totalled 937 million dollars in the first quarter, compared with just 224 million dollars for the first quarter of 2019.

The increase was primarily due to higher provisions relating to corporate loans as a result of continued pressure in the energy sector and the impact of COVID-19 on the economic environment, Goldman said.

Net revenues for the quarter reached 8.7 billion dollars, pretty much the same as in the first quarter of 2019, it added.

Goldman's shares - which had fallen by over 22% since the start of the year at close yesterday - were down a further 2% in pre-market trading.

Copyright (c) 2020 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.