Orange National Bank Posts Gain in Net Income

Orange National Bank in Orange posted $982,000 in net income for 1986, 5.6% higher than the $930,187 it earned in the previous year. Fourth-quarter net income rose 17.7% to $329,242 from $279,799.

The bank managed to increase its earnings despite the new federal tax law’s retroactive elimination of investment tax credits for part of the year. The loss of the tax credits forced the bank to pay nearly twice as much in taxes, said Wayne F. Miller, Orange National’s president.

Orange National Bancorp, which was formed last month as the bank’s holding company, said it will pay an annual dividend of 25 cents a share on March 31 to shareholders of record on March 18. The bank has paid four previous annual dividends of lesser amounts.

The bank’s total assets at the end of the year rose 36.8% to $130.9 million from $95.7 million a year earlier. Its deposits grew 37.8% to $121 million from $87.8 million a year earlier, and its loan portfolio increased 28.2% to $76.9 million from $60 million on Dec. 31, 1985.

But Miller said a more realistic figure for assets and deposits last year would be the average figure for December, which was $116 million in assets and $107 million in deposits. In the last few days of the year, he said, businesses such as escrow companies deposit huge sums of money but withdraw the funds in January, thus artificially pumping up the two figures, he said.