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M&T Bank first-quarter profit falls 13 percent
(New throughout)
NEW YORK, April 17 (Reuters) - M&T Bank Corp. (MTB.N), whose largest shareholders include Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRKa.N)(BRKb.N), on Tuesday said first-quarter profit fell 13 percent, hurt by weak demand for mortgages.
Net income for the Buffalo-based company fell to $176 million, or $1.57 per share, from $203 million, or $1.77 a share, a year earlier.
Analysts on average expected profit of $1.57 per share, according to Reuters Estimates.
On April 2, M&T had estimated profit at $1.50 to $1.60 per share, as much as 19 percent below the analysts' average forecast at the time.
The company said it had received low bids on some mortgages it tried to sell and that rising defaults had forced it to buy back some loans it had sold. It also said lower lending margins and rising expenses would hurt profit.
The bank said lending income rose 1 percent to $450.4 million, but net interest margin fell to 3.64 percent from 3.73 percent.
Fee income fell 7 percent to $236.5 million, including a 60 percent decline from mortgage banking. Noninterest expenses rose 4 percent to $399 million.
M&T set aside $27 million for bad loans, up 50 percent, while net charge-offs held steady at $17 million. Nonperforming loans nearly doubled to $273 million from $143 million, with a majority of the increase related to automobile dealers and two commercial relationships.
The bank ended the quarter with $57.8 billion of assets. Berkshire owned a roughly 6 percent stake in M&T as of Feb. 28, according to Thomson ShareWatch.
M&T shares closed Monday at $107.57 on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares have fallen 12 percent this year, compared with a 2 percent decline in the Philadelphia KBW Bank Index .BKX.
((Reporting by Jonathan Stempel, editing by Lisa Von Ahn; Reuters Messaging: jon.stempel.reuters.com@reuters.net, 646 223 6317)) Keywords: MTBANK RESULTS/
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