(From The Business Report) BATON ROUGE – A trio of Acadiana-based banks with presence in Baton Rouge says they earned less in the past quarter than they did the previous year. MidSouth Bank says it earned just over $1 million in the quarter, a 43% drop from the nearly $1.9 million it made at the end of 2007. The Lafayette-based bank blamed the loss on an increase in provisions for loan losses and more spending on franchise growth. Those factors caused MidSouth to see a drop in annual earnings, from nearly $8.8 million in 2007, or $1.32 a share, to $5.5 million in 2008, or 83 cents per share.
Lafayette-based Home Bank says it posted a $799,000 loss in the fourth quarter because of charges related to investment securities and a shortfall of cash at ATM locations. That compares with a nearly $409,000 profit in the fourth quarter of 2007. Home Bank says it would have earned $1.6 million in the quarter if it didn’t have the charge-offs. For the year Home Bank had net income of $2.7 million, down 18% from the $3.3 million in made in 2007.
New Iberia-based Teche Federal Bank says its quarterly earnings were down 6%, from $1.9 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2009 ending Dec. 31, to nearly $1.8 million. Earnings per diluted share were 83 cents in the fourth quarter, compared with 84 cents in the first quarter of fiscal 2008.
