NewAlliance Bancshares, Inc. (NAL), the holding company for NewAlliance Bank, Tuesday reported a rise in profit for the fourth quarter, benefiting from higher net interest and non-interest income. Earnings came in line with line analysts' estimates.
The New Haven, Connecticut-based company's net income for the fourth quarter increased to $12.12 million or $0.12 per share from $9.64 million or $0.10 per share in the previous year.
On average, 13 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.12 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Net interest income for the quarter increased 12.0% to $53.53 million from $47.80 million in the comparable quarter last year. Net interest margin was 2.82%, up from 2.59% at the end of 2008 due to significant reduction in deposit and borrowing costs as well as the steady decrease in borrowings each quarter.
Provision for loan losses declined to $3.47 million from $3.80 million a year ago.
Total non-interest income for the quarter increased 7.6% to $13.24 million from $12.31 million in the year-ago quarter due to higher Trust fee income and income from sales of loans. Total non-interest expense was $45.18 million, up from $41.64 million last year.
For the fourth quarter of 2009, revenue of $66.8 million was up 11.1% over the fourth quarter of 2008. Analysts expected revenues of $66.92 million for the quarter.
For the fiscal 2009, net income rose 2.5% to $46.44 million or $0.47 per share from $55.9 million or $0.45 per share in the previous year. Net interest income for the year increased to $203.21 million from $190.12 million last year. Total non-interest income rose to $59.2 million from $12.31 million a year ago. Revenue grew to $262.5 million in 2009, a 6.7% increase over 2008.
Analysts expected earnings of $0.47 on revenues of $260.83 million for the fiscal 2009.
Total loan originations were $1.49 billion, an increase of 15.2% from the prior year. This is primarily attributed to NewAlliance originating an all-time high of $1.04 billion in organic residential mortgages, growing 59.9% over 2008. Loan balances declined 4.0% year over year to $4.76 billion.
The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.07 per share, payable on February 18, 2010 to shareholders of record on February 8, 2010.
NAL closed Tuesday's regular trading at $11.69, down 0.09 or 0.76%, on a volume of 1.54 million shares on the NYSE.
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