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CPB’s earnings
jumped 15.8% in
record quarter
Central Pacific Bank's parent
By Russ Lynch
benefited from higher interest
income and lower loan losses
Star-Bulletin
CPB Inc. had a record fourth-quarter profit of $4.4 million, up 15.8 percent from $3.8 million in the year-earlier period, as net interest income rose and a higher quality of loans allowed the Central Pacific Bank subsidiary to post a lower provision for loan losses. It was the highest profit for any quarter in the bank holding company's history.
CPB said its per-share income for the latest quarter was 47 cents, up 23.7 percent from 38 cents in the final quarter of 1998.
The company had 5.2 percent fewer shares outstanding because of a stock buy-back. As part of that program, CPB bought back 300,000 shares that were held by Sumitomo Bank Ltd., leaving the big Japanese bank with a 10.5 percent holding of CPB's common stock.
Since it began a stock repurchase program in late 1998, CPB has bought 1.4 million shares of its own stock, 13 percent of the total.
The CPB board of directors approved a 7.7 percent increase in the quarterly dividend, to 14 cents a share from 13 cents.
At the end of August, CPB unveiled a three-year strategic plan aimed at increasing the company's efficiency and keeping it competitive. It involves intensive employee training, development of new products and services and streamlining of operations.
For all of 1999, CPB reported a profit of $16.3 million, or $1.70 a share, up from a profit of $15.1 million, or $1.46 a share, in 1998.
The company ended 1999 with assets of $1.65 billion, up 5.8 percent from $1.56 billion at the end of the previous year. Deposits at year-end totaled $1.31 billion, up 3.1 percent from $1.27 billion a year earlier, and net loans of $1.15 billion were up 5.5 percent from $1.09 billion. Central Pacific Bank is Hawaii's third-largest commercial bank and has 26 branches statewide, including seven in supermarkets.
