Posted at 9:43 a.m., Thursday, January 31, 2008
Central Pacific fourth-quarter profit tumbles
Advertiser Staff
Central Pacific Financial Corp., owner of the state's fourth-largest bank, said quarterly profit slid by 81 percent as credit costs ballooned.The company said it earned $3.55 million, or 12 cents a share, in the October to December quarter.
That was about one-fifth of the $18.8 million, or 61 cents, earned in the quarter a year earlier.
"Our fourth quarter results were negatively impacted by increased credit costs due to continued deterioration in California's housing market," said President and Chief Executive Officer Clint Arnoldus in a press statement.
The company reported taking a loan and loss provision of $28.2 million because of a downturn in the housing and residential construction market in California, where it has loans to California homebuilders hit hard by the subprime crisis. A year earlier didn't have a similar provision.
Central Pacific also reported the fourth-quarter results included:
--It had an after-tax loss of $1 million for an investment portfolio repositioning.
--Loans and leases increased by 1.7 percent to $69.2 million from the prior quarter.
--Net interest income fell to $52.5 million from $53.4 million a year earlier as its net interest margin shrank.
--Total assets of $5.7 billion at the end of the year were 4.4 percent higher than a year earlier.
--At the end of the year non-performing assets totaled 1.07 percent of total assets. A year earlier this figure was 0.16 percent.
