Area public companies have begun releasing their financial results for the third quarter. So far the news mostly has been good, particularly for area banks. Bank Rhode Island last week posted record third-quarter earnings of $1.1 million, or 30 cents per share, compared to $1 million, or 25 cents per share, during the third quarter of 1998. The third-quarter earnings pushed the Providence-based bank’s net income for the first nine months of the year up nearly 12 percent to $3.1 million.
Bank Rhode Island’s total assets grew more than $27 million since the end of last year to hit $623 million as of Sept. 30, according to the company’s earnings release. Meanwhile, the bank’s total loan portfolio grew to $452.6 million in the third quarter as its commercial loan portfolio continues to swell.
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Bank Rhode Island reported $1.6 million in loans that it is having trouble collecting, essentially the same amount as at this time last year. It had more than $5.4 million set aside to compensate for bad loans as of Sept. 30.
Bank Rhode Island’s board of directors has declared a cash dividend of five cents per share, which will be paid on Nov. 30 to stockholders of record as of the close of business on November 9.
The newly merged combination of Fleet Bank and BankBoston saw its net income soar 41 percent to $711 million, or 74 cents per share, in the third quarter from $506 million, or 52 cents per share, during the same period last year.
Now dubbed Fleet Boston, the combined financial institution last week announced an 11 percent increase in its quarterly dividend to 30 cents per share for shareholders of record as of Dec. 3.
The Boston-based bank rang up $1.7 billion in interest income during the quarter, up from just $105 million during third quarter 1998, thanks to its acquisition of Sanwa Business Credit. But the acquisition also pushed Fleet Boston’s nonperforming assets–mainly loans that are significantly past due–to $786 million from $102 million over the past year. Fleet Boston also blamed the increase in nonperforming assets on bad commercial and industrial loans.
However, the bad loans still represent less than 1 percent of the bank’s total loan portfolio
Fleet Boston’s total assets as of Sept. 30 were $185.3 billion, up $7 billion from the end of last year, according to the bank’s earnings release.
Rogers Corporation, of Rogers, Conn., reports that sales, profits and earnings per share for the third quarter, and the first nine months of 1999, were higher than any comparable periods in the company’s history.
Rogers Corporation manufacturers and markets specialty materials and components worldwide.
Third quarter 1999 net income was $4.6 million and diluted earnings per share were $0.58, substantially better than the $2.7 million and $0.34 per share earned in last year’s third quarter. For the first nine months of 1999, net income was $13.6 million and diluted earnings per share were $1.73, above the $9.8 million and $1.23 per share during the previous year.
High frequency circuit material sales for wireless communications applications were at record levels for the quarter and the first nine months of the year. Sales to the consumer electronics market were especially strong.
In New Britain, Conn., The Stanley Works – a worldwide supplier of tools and doors and related hardware products, as well stapler products through its Bostitch division — reported that third quarter net income was $50 million, or $.56 per diluted share.
Net sales were $692 million, a slight increase over $690 million during the same period last year. Acquisitions accounted for a 2 percent increase, offset by a 1 percent decline from lower pricing and foreign currency translation.
Gross margins were 35.4 percent, exceeding reported 1998 margins of 34.3 percent and “core” 1998 gross margins of 35 percent, despite the inclusion in the current quarter of certain costs excluded from core results in prior periods.
Third quarter net interest expense was $7 million compared with $7.4 million in 1998, as higher borrowings for acquisition and working capital funding were more than offset by lower interest rates on borrowings.
The company also announced that its Board of Directors approved a fourth quarter regular dividend of $.22 per share on the company’s common stock. The dividend is payable on Monday, Dec. 27, 1999 to shareholders of record at the close of business on Friday, Nov. 26, 1999.
