THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 20, 1995 TAG: 9504200446
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM SHEAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
Signet Banking Corp., which spun off its interest in the credit-card company Capital One Financial Corp. in February, reported Wednesday that its first-quarter net income declined 21 percent.
But after excluding Capital One's contributions to Signet's earnings, net income for the January-through-March quarter was up 48 percent from the year-earlier period, the Richmond-based banking company said.
The company's net income for the recent quarter dropped to $42.23 million, from $53.11 million in the 1994 first quarter. Per-share earnings fell to 71 cents from 93 cents.
Signet's credit-card operations, a major source of the company's earnings in past years, were put into a separate company, Capital One, in late 1994.
Without Capital One's contribution to earnings, Signet's net income climbed to $26.7 million, or 45 cents a share, from $18 million, or 31 cents a share, in the 1994 first quarter.
The bank holding company, which restructured several other operations as part of the Capital One spinoff, attributed the improvement in first-quarter earnings to a combination of growth in consumer and commercial loans, greater operating efficiency and improvements in credit quality.
Signet's return on average assets for the recent quarter declined to a still respectable 1.39 percent from 1.90 percent for last year's first quarter.
Meanwhile, Life Bancorp Inc. in Norfolk said its first-quarter net income jumped sharply because of growth in its earning assets and an improvement in its income from non-interest sources.
Life, which was converted last fall from a depositor-owned thrift to a stock company, said it earned $2.5 million, or 25 cents a share, for the three months ended March 31. That was up from $721,000 of net income for the comparable quarter in 1994.
Life, the parent of Life Savings Bank, also said it has applied to federal regulators to buy back as much as 5 percent of its 10.91 million shares.
The company attributed part of the improvement in first-quarter results to a 69 percent increase in net interest income, which totaled $7.49 million. Life also reported $675,000 in non-interest income for the quarter.
Life's return on average assets was 0.97 percent for the March 31 quarter, up from 0.36 percent for the 1994 first quarter. The thrift holding company also declared a quarterly dividend of 11 cents a share, payable May 31 to shareholders of record May 12.
Separately, Jefferson Bankshares Inc., said its net income for the March 31 quarter climbed 8 percent because of strong growth in its consumer and commercial loans.
The Charlottesville-based parent of Jefferson National Bank said it earned $5.55 million in the recent quarter, compared with $5.13 million for last year's first quarter. Per-share earnings rose to 37 cents from 34 cents.
The company's net interest income, its biggest source of earnings, increased 9 percent to $21.6 million, while its income from fees and other non-interest sources fell 6 percent to $3.98 million.
Jefferson's return on average assets for the quarter was 1.16 percent, compared with 1.08 percent for last year's first quarter. by CNB