Bancorp Rhode Island, the parent of Providence-based Bank Rhode Island, today reported a 19-percent year-to-year drop in earnings.
BankRI reported $7.7 million in net income for the year, or $1.57 per diluted share.
Dependent on interest income, it struggled with a shrinking margin, but it also grew its commercial loan portfolio by 19 percent, to $519 million as of Dec. 31, a feat that President and CEO Merrill W. Sherman called “nothing short of extraordinary.”
Meanwhile, it also grew its consumer loan portfolio, by 7 percent, to $220.6 million as of Dec. 31.
Total assets reached $1.48 billion in 2006, a 3-percent increase from 2005, while total deposits grew to $1.02 billion, with demand deposits growing 8 percent and other deposits, 3 percent.
The bank’s net interest interest margin for the year was 3.06 percent, down from 3.35 percent in 2005.
For the last several months, the company has been under fire from PL Capital LLC, an Illinois investment firm that is now expected to attempt a takeover this spring.
In response, BankRI has reduced expenses and cut some jobs. Sherman spoke about those efforts today, in a conference call with investors, saying “we have slowed the expense growth rate, and in fact are actively continuing to look for opportunities to lose expenses.”
The bank’s full fourth-quarter and full-year 2006 filing is posted at www.bankri.com/bri/investor_relations.asp.
