TD Bank's first quarter profit was down because of a major gain last year on its sale of TD Waterhouse U.S.A., but its operating results came in strongly, the bank said Thursday.

The bank, which was the first of Canada's major banks to report Q1 earnings, said it made $921 million, or $1.26 a share, down from $2.31 billion, or $3.20 a share, a year earlier.

TD CEO Ed Clark tours the TD Securities trading floor in Toronto in April 2006.
(Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)

Last year's first quarter results include a gain of $1.67 billion, or $2.32 a share, from the sale of TD Waterhouse U.S.A to Ameritrade.

Factoring out special gains, the bank said it made a profit of $1.01 billion, up from $835 million a year earlier.

TD said its total revenues came in at $3.47 billion, up from $3.4 billion a year ago.

The bank's provision for bad loans was also higher, rising to $163 million in the quarter from $114 million year-over-year.

"Our first quarter results marked a very strong start to 2007," said bank CEO Ed Clark.

The bank said strong results from its wealth management and personal and commercial banking operations helped its performance in the first three months of its current fiscal year.

With the strong results, TD announced an increase in the quarterly dividend of five cents to 53 cents.