First Hawaiian The parent company of First Hawaiian Bank today reported record first-quarter earnings of $61.7 million, up 24.9 percent from the $49.4 million earned in the year-earlier quarter.
parent’s earnings
jump 25%
Profits easily beat
By Russ Lynch
analysts' estimates
Star-Bulletin
The per-share profit of 49 cents was well above analysts' consensus of 45 cents and was 22.5 percent above the 40 cents a share reported for the 2000 quarter.
Some of the gain was an after-tax $24.6 million profit from a one-time transaction, the recent sale of BancWest's 5 percent-plus interest in Star Systems Inc.. But even without that, BancWest had a year-over-year earnings improvement to equal analysts' estimates and ahead of 2000's first quarter.
The company made a strong enough improvement in its operating performance, including the added results from 30 branches acquired this year on the mainland, to show an operating profit of $56.5 million, or 45 cents a share, after taking the one-time gain out of the equation.
The operating result also included $13.7 million in added provisions for loan losses and a cost of $2.4 million from integrating branches.
"Despite the unusual items recorded during the quarter, the bottom line is that our operating earnings continue on a solid track of double-digit growth and our latest acquisitions have operationally come on line smoothly," said Walter A. Dods Jr., BancWest chairman and CEO.
As part of the sale of Star Systems Inc., described in BancWest's report as the nation's largest secure personal identification number payments network, to Concord EFS Inc., BancWest received about 1.3 million shares of Concord.
BancWest said the Concord shares are restricted and unregistered and the $24.6 million gain reflects their value as of Feb. 1, discounted because they cannot yet be sold.
When they become unrestricted and registered, BancWest may get an additional gain from selling them, the company said.
During the latest quarter, BancWest completed its acquisition of 30 branches in Nevada and New Mexico from First Security Corp., adding $1.2 million in deposits and $225 million in loans to its portfolio.
BancWest ended the latest quarter with assets of $19.4 billion, up 10.8 percent from a year earlier. Loans of $14.2 billion were up 10.5 percent, and deposits of $14.7 billion were up 10.4 percent.