(Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc's profit more than halved in the second quarter as trading revenue weakened and litigation provisions soared.
The Wall Street bank said on Thursday its net income applicable to common shareholders fell to $916 million, or $1.98 per share, in the three months to June 30, from $1.95 billion, or $4.10 per share, a year earlier.
Goldman recorded $1.45 billion in net provisions for mortgage-related litigation and regulatory matters, up from $284 million a year earlier, reducing earnings by $2.77 per share.
Analysts on average had expected earnings of $3.89 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. It was not immediately clear if the reported figures were comparable.
Goldman, whose shares were down 1 percent in premarket trading, said its net revenue from fixed-income, currency and commodity trading fell 28 percent to $1.60 billion.
"While uncertainty in the EU weighed on investors' level of conviction, many of our businesses continued to benefit from generally improving economic conditions," Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein said in a statement.
Revenue from equity underwriting rose 9 percent to $595 million, while investment banking revenue overall, which includes M&A, debt underwriting and stock underwriting, rose 13 percent to $2.02 billion.
Goldman ranked No. 1 in global mergers and acquisitions as well as in equity underwriting in the first half of 2015, according to Thomson Reuters data.
(Reporting by Sweta Singh and Richa Naidu in Bengaluru and Olivia Oran in New York; Editing by Ted Kerr)
