Thursday, AmericanWest Bancorporation (AWBC) reported a net loss for the second quarter compared to profit last year hurt by a decline in net interest income and higher loan loss reserves.
Spokane, Washington-based AmericanWest reported a net loss of $6.21 million or $0.36 per share for the second quarter, compared to profit of $4.54 million or $0.26 per share in the same quarter last year.
Net interest income for the quarter declined to $3.12 million from $21.46 million in the same quarter last year. Total non-interest income improved to $5.11 million from $4.69 million in the year-ago quarter.
The company reported total interest expense of $11.22 million for the quarter compared to $12.75 million in the prior-year quarter. Total non-interest expense was $19.24 million compared to $19.18 million in the year-ago quarter.
In the second quarter, the company recognized a provision for loan losses of $16.4 million, or 3.68% of average loans on an annualized basis, compared to $1.5 million or 0.38% of average loans on an annualized basis in the prior-year quarter.
Robert Daugherty, president and chief executive officer, said, "Our strong results with fee revenue, up 9%, and expense control, which resulted in non-interest expense being flat compared to the same period last year, were offset by an elevated loan loss provision and anticipated margin compression."
For the first six-months of fiscal 2008, AmericanWest reported a net loss of $37.77 million or $2.19 per share compared to profit of $6.73 million or $0.47 per share in the corresponding period a year earlier.
Net interest income for the six-month period dropped to $11.61 million from $36.23 million in the same period a year earlier. Non-interest income was $9.3 million as compared to $7.1 million for the same period of the prior year.
For the six-month periiod provision for loan losses increased to $29.2 million from $2.3 million recognized for the six months ended June 30, 2007.
AWBC is trading at $2.13, down $0.23 or 9.75%, on a volume of about 112 thousand shares.
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