CPB earnings
increase 1.8%

A boost in deposits and loans
helps the isle bank weather
the economic slump

By Rob Perez
Star-Bulletin

CPB Inc. today reported a 1.8 percent rise in third-quarter earnings, buoyed by an increase in deposits and loans.

The parent company of Central Pacific Bank said net income for the three-month period ended Sept. 30 totaled $3.89 million, or 38 cents per share, compared with $3.82 million, or 36 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter.

CPB's assets at quarter's end were up 5.2 percent to $1.52 billion.

Deposits increased 4.4 percent to $1.19 billion, while loans rose 1.6 percent to just over $1 billion, the company said.

The company said it was able to generate steady earnings despite Hawaii's economic slump.

The sluggish economy, however, likely was a factor in a 59.3 percent jump in nonperforming loans to $17.7 million.

During the third quarter, the company's board of directors authorized a second stock repurchase program. The program enables CPB to repurchase about 5 percent, or 525,000 shares, of its 10.1 million shares of common stock outstanding.

The company during the quarter also adopted a shareholder rights plan designed to protect shareholders in case of a takeover bid.

But CPB today repeated earlier assertions that it knows of no planned or threatened effort to acquire the company.

CPB is Hawaii's third-largest banking company behind Bank of Hawaii parent Pacific Century Financial Corp. and First Hawaiian Inc.