City Bank parent
to buy back
5 percent of shares

CPB's parent also buying back shares

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Star-Bulletin staff

City Bank parent CB Bancshares Inc., claiming its shares are undervalued, said yesterday it will repurchase up to 5 percent of its stock in a buyback program in the next year.

The company intends to buy approximately 200,000 of its 4 million shares outstanding.

"The current valuation of the company's common stock represents an opportunity to enhance shareholder value through a stock repurchase program," said Ronald K. Migita, president and chief executive of CB Bancshares. "We believe that our shares are undervalued and that this repurchase program is a good investment."

CB Bancshares' stock, which fell 5 cents today to $36.76, is the third-best performer this year in the Bloomberg Honolulu Star-Bulletin index with a 14.7 percent gain. Last month the company issued a 10 percent stock dividend. CB Bancshares's stock has a 1.1 percent dividend yield.

Meanwhile, the bank holding company, which operates 20 branches on Oahu, Maui and the Big Island, also said it was adding an online check image retrieval feature to its iCityBanker Internet service. CB Bancshares said it is the first service of its kind in the state to offer instantaneous feedback by having check images available online 24 hours a day, seven days a week. With the service, business customers can go online and view canceled checks for correctness, authorized signatures and endorsements.