Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, October 14, 1994                   TAG: 9410140078
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-13   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CHARTER FEDERAL'S 'RECOVERY' CREATES 1ST DIVIDEND IN 6 YEARS

The Bristol-based institution will pay 7.5 cents per share. The dividend will be paid Nov. 14 to stockholders of record on Oct. 31.

Based on 5,125,313 outstanding shares, the dividend is worth $384,398.

Douglas Deppen, chief financial officer, said the last dividend was 2.5 cents paid Nov. 18, 1988, based on fewer shares.

President C.R. McCullar said attainment of required capital levels and the sixth consecutive quarter of "excellent" net earnings made the dividend possible. "The reinstatement of a dividend to stockholders marks another milepost in Charter Federal's financial recovery and success," McCullar said.

Charter was threatened with seizure by the government last year after a federal appeals court ruled that the bank no longer could use an accounting method that had been approved earlier by the government to reward thrifts for taking over other, failed institutions.

But after Charter began to earn money again, it was able to sell stock to private investors, thus increasing its capital strength to meet stricter government standards.

Thursday, the thrift reported that net income for the first quarter of its fiscal year was $2.1 million, or 40 cents a share, compared with $2.3 million, or 44 cents, a year ago. The 1993 quarter included about $1 million representing an accounting change.

Nonperforming assets continued to decline to a level of 2.1 percent of total assets, compared with 2.5 percent a year ago.

Loans rose from $231.7 million last year to $285.9 million last month.

The bank, which has 27 offices in Southwest Virginia and northeast Tennessee, had assets of $741 million and $561.7 million in deposits at the end of the quarter.