Bank of America Corp., the nation’s third-largest bank, said Monday that first-quarter earnings rose sharply from a year ago, due to the acquisition of FleetBoston, strong results throughout the company’s businesses, lower credit costs and gains from the sales of securities.
Net income rose to $4.70 billion, or $1.14 per share, for the three months ended March 31 from $2.68 billion, or 91 cents per share, a year ago. Under purchase accounting rules, results for the first quarter of 2004 do not include the impact of FleetBoston Financial Corp., which was acquired on April 1, 2004.
The latest quarter includes merger and restructuring costs of 2 cents per share. Revenue on a fully taxable-equivalent basis grew to $14.22 billion from $9.70 billion the previous year.
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