THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 17, 1996 TAG: 9607170324
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM SHEAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 44 lines
The stream of favorable earnings reports from the region's banking companies continued Tuesday with CENIT Bancorp Inc. disclosing a 38 percent increase in its second-quarter net income.
Meanwhile, Jefferson Bankshares Inc. said its net income for the April-through-June period was up 18 percent from the year-earlier quarter.
And Heritage Bankshares Inc., parent of Heritage Bank & Trust, reported a 10 percent improvement in income for the quarter.
Helped by a smaller provision for loan losses, continued control of expenses and a 6 percent increase in net interest income, Norfolk-based CENIT said it earned a record $1.22 million for the recent quarter.
That was up from $883,000 for the comparable three months of 1995. Per-share earnings totaled 73 cents, up from 53 cents.
CENIT cited an increase in its earning assets and a restructuring of its investment portfolio last year as reasons for the improvement in net interest income.
CENIT's return on average assets, one yardstick of bank profitability, climbed to 0.75 percent for the recent quarter from 0.59 percent a year earlier.
At Charlottesville-based Jefferson Bankshares, second-quarter net income totaled $6.98 million, up from $5.9 million in the 1995 quarter. Earnings per share were 46 cents, compared with 39 cents a year ago.
Jefferson, parent of Jefferson National Bank, credited part of the improvement to a 9 percent increase in loans. It also benefited from a 16 percent increase in non-interest income, which included fee income from credit cards and sales of investment products, Jefferson said.
The company's return on average assets advanced to 1.36 percent from 1.19 percent in the 1995 second quarter.
Heritage Bankshares reported a 10 percent increase in second-quarter net income due to a reduction in its non-interest expenses and a smaller provision for loan losses.
Heritage earned $195,000 for the three months ended June 30, up from $178,000 for the year-earlier quarter. Per-share earnings were 25 cents, compared with 23 cents.
For the six months through June, its net income totaled $380,000, a 10 percent increase from $346,000 for the first half of 1995. Earnings per share were 48 cents, up from 44 cents. by CNB