Central Pacific
parent’s net soars

Cost-control efforts, new products
and a $2.2 million tax benefit
help lift earnings 76%

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By Rick Daysog
rdaysog@starbulletin.com

The parent of Central Pacific Bank posted its ninth consecutive record quarter as company profits soared more than 76 percent.

CPB Inc. reported a net income of $8.7 million for the three months ending Sept. 30, 2001, up from $4.9 million in the year-earlier quarter.

On a per-share basis, the company earned $1.06 in the recently ended quarter, compared to 56 cents in the same quarter last year.

Year-to-date, the company said it netted $19.8 million, or $2.39 per share, up from $14.3 million, or $1.59 per share, during the first nine months of 2000.

Shares of CPB closed down 40 cents to $31.23 today on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Joichi Saito, CPB's chairman and chief executive officer, attributed increased earnings to recent cost-control efforts, aggressive new product developments and better management of its loan portfolio.

The company also received a federal tax benefit of more than $2.2 million during the quarter.

CPB listed its total assets at $1.83 billion, up 4.1 percent from the year-earlier period. Total deposits increased 4.8 percent to $1.42 billion while total loans were down by 0.5 percent to $1.25 billion.

The company said its troubled loans -- which includes nonperforming assets, loans delinquent 90 days or more and other restructured borrowings -- declined 51.8 percent to $6.7 million from third quarter 2000's $13.9 million.

CPB also reported its board of director has authorized the repurchase of 290,000 shares, or about 3.5 percent of the company's 8.2 million outstanding shares.

The stock buyback, the company's sixth, aims to enhance shareholder value by reducing the amount of outstanding shares.

The latest quarterly results have prompted the company to declare a 17 cents per share cash dividend, an increase of 1 cent from third quarter 2000's cash dividend.

For the first three quarters this year, the company has declared a cash dividend of 49 cents per share, up 8.9 percent from the year-earlier's 45 cents.

CPB is the parent of Central Pacific Bank, which operates 24 bank branches statewide.