Central Pacific Financial Corp. said net earnings were $8 million, or 49 cents per share, in the three months to June 30, up from $7.7 million, or 47 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.

Clint Arnoldus, president and CEO of Central Pacific, gave an update on the merger when he discussed the quarterly earnings on a conference call with analysts.

“The most important message I want to convey is we remain committed to moving forward with this transaction,” Arnoldus said. “Although we are very disappointed by the many obstacles CB Bancshares has placed in the way of its shareholders’ ability to call a meeting, we still hope CB Bancshares will negotiate with us,” Arnoldus said.

CB Bancshares executives, who are fighting Central Pacific’s $272 million takeover bid, filed a lawsuit yesterday alleging that Central Pacific illegally acquired voting power of CB Bancshares stock. Also yesterday, CB Bancshares reported it has spent $4.2 million defending against the takeover attempt.

Central Pacific did not report its total expenses related to the merger, only the advertising costs. Neil Kanda, Central Pacific’s chief financial officer, said that legal and other expenses related to the merger will be capitalized, or absorbed, by the bank.

On the quarterly earnings, Central Pacific said the increase in net income was due to growing deposits and improved asset quality.

The bank reported that total assets grew to $2.09 billion in the quarter, up 8 percent from the $1.94 billion reported a year ago. Total nonperforming assets declined 92 percent to $274,000 or 0.01 percent of total assets, compared to $3.2 million or 0.17 percent of total assets a year ago.

Total deposits grew to $1.71 billion, an increase of 10 percent from the $1.56 billion reported last year.