Central Pacific
parent posts best
quarter in history
The $4.3 million gain is
By Russ Lynch
bankrolled by increased loans and
deposits and a reduction in staffing
Star-Bulletin
CPB Inc., the parent of Central Pacific Bank that is restructuring to cut costs, today reported its highest quarterly profit in the company's 45-year history.
The bank-holding company said it had a third-quarter profit of $4.3 million, up 10.3 percent from $3.9 million in the year-earlier quarter. The per-share profit of 44 cents for the quarter ending Sept. 30 was up 15.8 percent from 38 cents a year ago because the company had fewer shares outstanding after a stock buy-back program.
Honolulu-based CPB said the profit was partly due to increased net interest income, achieved through a higher volume of loans and deposits, and a larger interest spread, the difference between the income from lending money and the cost of borrowing it.
In August, CPB announced a restructuring plan designed to improve efficiencies that would cut about 10 percent of its nearly 600 jobs over the next three years.
In today's earnings announcement, CPB said a reduction in staff and income from fees also helped boost its bottom line. Nonperforming and delinquent loans were down 28.2 percent at $17.1 million, from a year-earlier $23.8 million.
At the end of September, CPB had assets of $1.6 billion, up 5.3 percent from $1.52 billion a year earlier. Deposits of $1.26 billion were up 5.9 percent from $1.19 billion at the end of the 1998 quarter, and net loans of $1.14 billion were up 9.6 percent from $1.04 billion. Central Pacific Bank is the third largest bank in the state, behind the Bank of Hawaii and First Hawaiian Bank.
