THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 15, 1994 TAG: 9407150564
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By TOM SHEAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 39 lines
First Union Corp., the parent of First Union National Bank of Virginia, reported flat second-quarter earnings Thursday despite strong loan growth and a reduction in troubled assets over the last year.
First Union said it earned $229.6 million for the three months ended June 30, up from $226.8 million for the comparable period of 1993. Its earnings per share were unchanged at $1.32.
The Charlotte-based banking company said its average loans during the quarter were up 14 percent from the year-earlier quarter, partly because of its greater emphasis on credit-card and home-equity lending. Net interest income for the April-through-June quarter rose almost 10 percent to $751.3 million from $684.3 million in the 1993 quarter.
However, First Union said its income from fees and other non-interest sources fell 10 percent from the year-earlier quarter to $273.8 million. One contribution to non-interest income - income from mortgage-banking activity - tumbled 65 percent to $12.2 million in the recent quarter.
One bright spot was an improvement in non-performing assets, which dropped to their lowest level in five years, First Union said. At the end of June, they stood at $662 million, a 48 percent drop from $1.27 billion one year earlier. The company's second-quarter results were helped by a reduction in its provision for loan losses, which dropped to $25 million from $61.45 million in the 1993 second quarter.
For the six months of 1994, First Union earned $452.1 million, a 6 percent increase from $426.8 million for the first half of last year. Per-share earnings for the January-through-June period were $2.59, up from $2.49.
The company acquired Roanoke-based Dominion Bankshares Corp. and the parent of First American Bank of Virginia during the first half of 1993. by CNB