THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 9, 1996 TAG: 9602090432
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM SHEAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
Blaming a loss from the sale of investment securities and restructuring costs from a bank merger, CENIT Bancorp Inc. said its fourth-quarter net income tumbled 63 percent.
CENIT, the parent of CENIT Bank in Norfolk and Princess Anne Bank in Virginia Beach, also reported a 38 percent drop in net income for 1995.
CENIT, which acquired Princess Anne Bank last August, said net income for the October-through-December quarter dropped to $322,000 from $870,000 for the comparable three months of 1994. Per-share earnings were 19 cents, down from 53 cents.
CENIT's results for the latest period included a pretax loss of $563,000 from the sale of almost $70 million of under-performing investment securities. The company said it replaced these with higher yielding mortgage-backed securities.
CENIT's fourth-quarter earnings also were hurt by a higher provision for loan losses and a 12 percent increase in non-interest expenses.
Despite adding to its reserves for loan losses during 1995, the company said its non-performing assets at year-end had dropped to $2.9 million from $8.2 million at the end of 1994.
For the full year, CENIT said it earned $2.47 million, compared with $3.98 million for 1994. Earnings per share fell to $1.48 from $2.44.
CENIT declared a quarterly dividend of 10 cents a share payable Feb. 16 to shareholders of record Jan. 30.
Virginia Beach Federal Savings Bank's net income for the Dec. 31 quarter fell 60 percent. Virginia Beach Federal attributed the decline in fourth-quarter earnings to an unusually high net income in the year-earlier quarter when it had a onetime gain of $1.8 million from the sale of mortgage-servicing rights.
The thrift holding company's net income for all of 1995 totaled $1.17 million, or 24 cents a share. That compared with a net loss of $571,000, or 12 cents a share, for 1994.
Virginia Beach Federal declared a regular quarterly dividend of 4 cents a share payable Feb. 23 to shareholders of record Feb. 9.
Resource Bank in Virginia Beach reported significant increases in net income for the fourth quarter and the full year, citing its higher levels of earning assets and net interest income.
The community bank's net income for the December quarter rose 31 percent to $168,238 from $128,793 in the 1994 fourth quarter. Earnings per share were 20 cents, up from 15 cents.
For the full year, Resource's net income totaled $650,732, an 86 percent increase from $350,600 in 1994. Per-share earnings were 77 cents, compared with 42 cents. by CNB