DATE: Thursday, July 17, 1997               TAG: 9707170463

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY TOM SHEAN, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   49 lines

CENIT BANK AND WACHOVIA SHOW INCREASES

Citing growth in its fee income and higher yields on its loans and investments, CENIT Bancorp Inc. said Wednesday its second-quarter net income rose 27 percent from the comparable three months last year.

The Norfolk-based parent of CENIT Bank and Princess Anne Bank also disclosed that it spent $405,000 during the first half of 1997 on its battle against a partnership of disgruntled investors.

In a shareholder vote last spring, CENIT's board and management narrowly defeated a proposal from Mid-Atlantic Investors in Columbia, S.C., that called for CENIT to evaluate the company's worth and find an acquirer. CENIT also defeated a Mid-Atlantic bid to put three of its own representatives on the company's 11-member board.

For the April-through-June period, CENIT reported net income of $1.55 million, compared with $1.22 million in the 1996 second quarter. Earnings per share were 91 cents, up from 73 cents.

The bank holding company said its principal source of earnings - net interest income - increased 12 percent to $5.38 million. Meanwhile, earnings from fees and other non-interest income jumped 39 percent to $1.36 million.

CENIT also said its board agreed to lend CENIT's employee stock option plan the money to buy as much as 5 percent of the company's common stock. CENIT has about 1.7 million common shares outstanding. The employee stock option plan already holds about 5 percent of CENIT's shares.

Separately, Wachovia Corp. said loan growth, higher yields on loans and investments, and a favorable cost of funds helped produce a 4 percent increase in its second-quarter earnings.

The Winston-Salem, N.C.-based company said it earned $165.62 million for the June 30 quarter. That compared with $159.36 million in year-earlier quarter.

Earnings per share climbed 8 percent to $1.01 from 94 cents because there were fewer shares outstanding in the recent quarter.

Wachovia, whose sole Virginia branch is in Norfolk, announced in June that it would acquire Jefferson Bankshares Inc. in Charlottesville. Two weeks later, Wachovia said it would continue its expansion in Virginia by buying Richmond-based Central Fidelity Banks Inc.

Jefferson, the parent of Jefferson National Bank, said earlier this week that its second-quarter net income climbed 15 percent to $8.05 million. In the April-through-June period of 1996, it earned $6.98 million.

Per-share earnings for the quarter were 58 cents, up from 46 cents.

Jefferson said its earnings also were helped by an after-tax gain of $553,000 from the sale of its merchant credit-card processing business and a parcel of land held for future expansion.

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