Business in brief WILMINGTON, DEL.: MBNA REPORTS DROP IN FIRST-QUARTER PROFITS

MBNA Corp., the world’s largest independent credit card lender, on Thursday said first-quarter earnings plummeted, hurt by a hefty restructuring charge and unexpectedly high payment volumes from U.S. credit card customers. The company said full-year earnings likely would fall short of its 10 percent growth goal. Quarterly income was $31.7 million, or 2 cents a share, sharply lower than $519.7 million, or 40 cents a share, reported last year. Excluding a pretax restructuring charge of $767.6 million, earnings in the latest period were $514.1 million, or 40 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected MBNA to earn 46 cents a share in the January-March quarter. Net interest income fell to $666.1 million from $667.8 million. (The Associated Press)