BMO boosts dividend on higher Q4 profit

Bank of Montreal raised its dividend Tuesday as it reported a fourth-quarter profit of $1.35 billion, up a 11 per cent from a year ago.

The bank increased its quarterly payment to shareholders by two cents to 88 cents per share.

Bank of Montreal's profit of the quarter ended Oct. 31 amounted to $2.02 per share, up from $1.21 billion or $1.83 per share a year ago.

The lender had $5.28 billion in quarterly revenue, compared with $4.98 billion during the fourth quarter of last year.

For its full financial year, BMO earned $4.63 billion or $6.92 per share, up from $4.41 billion of $6.57 per share last year.

Revenue totalled $21.09 billion compared with $19.39 billion in the previous year.

"These results reflect, in addition to a strong and diversified business model, the role our technology capabilities are playing in differentiating our offering and the customer experience we are able to deliver," CEO Bill Downe said in a statement.

"They are allowing us to be faster and more efficient while delivering ever-increasing value. In every part of the bank, we balanced decisions to improve operating efficiencies with those aimed at enabling future growth."