City National’s Profit Rises 11% for Quarter
City National Corp., a Beverly Hills-based banking company with $6.3 billion in assets, on Wednesday said second-quarter profit rose 11% as its City National Bank made more loans.
Net income rose to $26.1 million, or 55 cents a share, from $23.6 million, or 49 cents a share, a year earlier. The bank met the average estimate of analysts surveyed by First Call Corp.
The gains came as the company, with 41 branches, said average loans grew 12%, driven by construction and commercial loans in California’s robust economy.
“City National again generated double-digit, year-over-year earnings growth,” Russell Goldsmith, chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.
In the second quarter, City National bought back $6.1 million worth of stock. Since announcing its buyback program Sept. 8, it has repurchased 753,800 shares for $23.7 million.
The stock has fallen 12% this year. Shares fell 69 cents to close at $36 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.
The company said commercial loans grew 18% to $2.5 billion, while construction loans rose 86% to $271.8 million. Its total loan portfolio was $4.7 billion June 30, up from $4.5 billion March 31. Net interest income rose 5% to $78.7 million.
The net interest margin, or the difference between what the bank pays and receives for funds, narrowed to 5.48% from 5.95%.
Non-interest income rose 25% to $21.7 million, in part because of the acquisition of North American Trust Co. last year. Return on equity, a key measure of profitability, rose to 18.6% from 17.7%.
At a Glance
* Colton-based Stater Bros. Holdings Inc., which operates Stater Bros. markets, reported fiscal third-quarter net income of $3.2 million, compared to a net loss of $1.2 million for the year-ago quarter. Sales rose 2.3% to $441.1 million.
