THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 11, 1995 TAG: 9501110428
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By TOM SHEAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 45 lines
The parent of Old Point National Bank in Hampton reported sharply higher net income for the 1994 fourth quarter and the full year due partly to lower non-interest expenses and smaller provisions for troubled loans.
Old Point Financial Corp. said Tuesday that it earned $795,299 for the three months ended Dec. 31, a 55 percent increase from $512,476 in the year-earlier quarter.
Per-share earnings were 63 cents, up from 41 cents in the 1993 fourth quarter.
For the full year, Old Point Financial earned $2.77 million, up 25 percent from $2.21 million in 1993. Earnings per share for 1994 totaled $2.20, compared with $1.77 in 1993.
With an improvement in credit quality, Old Point was able to slash its loan-loss provisions by 90 percent last year to $25,000 from $250,000 in 1993. In addition, the company trimmed its non-interest expenses by 3 percent last year to $11.8 million.
Old Point's major source of earnings - net interest income - was up 6 percent for the fourth quarter but increased only 2 percent for the full year.
The company's 1994 earnings were enhanced by $407,081 of securities gains, most of them taken during the year's first quarter. That compared with $18,809 of gains on the sale of securities in 1993.
Its return on average assets, a common yardstick for measuring bank profitability, was 1 percent for the year and 1.14 percent for the 1994 fourth quarter.
Old Point's balance sheet at the end of the year reflected the impact of rising interest rates throughout 1994. The company, which in early 1994 shifted a $99 million portfolio of investment securities to the category of ``securities held for sale,'' recorded an unrealized loss of $1.92 million on those securities.
Old Point increased its loans 16 percent to $173.7 million during 1994. The company ended the year with assets of $277.7 million, an increase of 1.4 percent from one year earlier. by CNB