First Regional Shares Plunge on Poor Earnings

0

Shares in First Regional Bancorp plunged more than 30 percent early Friday after the bank company reported a quarterly loss and said it was forced to set aside $45 million in loan-loss provisions.


First Regional posted a second quarter loss of $18.5 million (-$1.46 per share), compared to a profit of $8.6 million (66 cents) in the same period a year earlier. The loss was attributed largely to a $44.7 million provision to its loan loss reserve and charged off a total of $34.2 million in loans secured by real estate in the recently concluded quarter.


Net interest income for the Los Angeles-based bank dropped 11 percent to $24.1 million.


“Clearly these are challenging times for financial institutions like First Regional, and obviously our results are being adversely affected by these difficult conditions,” H. Anthony Gartshore, the bank’s chief executive said in a statement. “Despite continuing pressures on the segments of real estate in which we participate, we benefit from having avoided involvement in sub-prime mortgages and other exotic financial instruments which have been particularly hard hit.”


Shares in First Regional dropped 31 percent to $4.50 in mid-day trading Friday.

No posts to display