Whitney Holding Corp. (WTNY), the holding company of Whitney National Bank, reported Tuesday a loss for the fourth quarter from a profit for the same quarter last year, reflecting both a rise in non interest expense and a decline in net interest income. However, the company's net loss was narrower than analysts expectations. Following the news, Whitney Holding shares rose more than 13% in the morning trade on the Nasdaq.
Whitney Holding's fourth-quarter net loss available to common shareholders was $3.75 million or $0.04 per share, compared with net income of $8.22 million or $0.12 per share in the prior year period. Excluding preferred stock dividends, net income for the fourth quarter plunged to $318 thousand from $8.81 million for the same period last year.
On average, 12 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report a loss of $0.30 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
While net-interest income for the quarter decreased to $111.39 million from $119.54 million, non-interest income rose to $29.03 million from $27.05 million for the previous year period. Analysts had expected the company to report revenues of $138.65 million for the quarter.
Net interest margin came down to 4.20% from 4.49% for the same period last year.
Impacting the net income was a rise in non interest expenses to $104.14 million from $92.03 million for the same period last year.
The company said that its total loans at the end of the quarter was $8.4 billion, down $74 million or less than 1% from September 30, 2009 and deposits at end of the quarter rose $270 million or 3% to $9.15 billion compared to end of the prior quarter.
Whitney noted that it has provided $39.5 million for credit losses in the fourth quarter, down 51% or $41 million, compared to $80.5 million for the prior quarter.
Net loan charge-offs in the fourth quarter were $54.5 million, or 2.59% of average loans on an annualized basis, compared to $61.9 million, or 2.86% of average loans, in the third quarter, the company said.
The company's allowance for loan losses came down to 2.66% of total loans at year-end 2009 from 2.81% at September 30. However, allowance for loan losses is up from 1.77% at the end of the prior year, the company indicated.
For the full year, net loss to common shareholders was $78.37 million or $1.08 per share compared with net income of $58.00 million or $0.88 per share for the same period last year. Net loss to company was $62.15 million compared with net income of $58.58 million a year earlier.
Net interest income for the full year came down to $443.43 million from $455.64 million for the same period last year and non interest income rose to $119.95 million from $107.17 million last year.
Looking forward, John Hope, III, Chairman and CEO said, "While 2010 will continue to be impacted by credit quality cleanup and an improving, yet still uncertain, economy, I am optimistic that the credit situation is normalizing and I am hopeful we will soon see a return to full-year profitability. "
WTNY is currently trading at $12.53, up $1.48 or 13.40% on a volume of 2.79 million shares on the Nasdaq.
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