BUZZ-Ally Financial rises on move to simplify business, Q4 profit beat

Consumer lender Ally Financial's ALLY.N shares rise 6.5% to $40.65 premarket

ALLY posts Q4 adjusted profit of 78 cents/share, beating Wall Street expectations of 57 cents/share, according to estimates compiled by LSEG

Q4 net financing revenue rose $7 mln to $1.51 bln, driven by lower funding costs

CEO Michael Rhodes expresses optimism on strong momentum across ALLY's business as the company enters 2025, driven by an improved outlook on credit

ALLY also announced a raft of actions taken in Q4 to simplify and streamline the company

Co has agreed to sell its credit card business to credit and payments company CardWorks

ALLY is also ceasing new mortgage loan applications from Jan. 31 and said it paid $22 mln in severance pay to laid off workers

ALLY stock rose 3.1% in 2024

(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru)

((ArasuKannagi.Basil@thomsonreuters.com;))