Bank Of Hawaii 1st-qtr Profit Falls 37 Percent

HONOLULU (AP) — Bank of Hawaii Corp. said Monday that its first-quarter profit slid 37 percent as its credit costs nearly doubled.

For the period ended March 31, the company earned $36 million, or 75 cents per share, down from $57.2 million, or $1.18 per share, in the same quarter a year earlier.

The latest quarter's results include a pretax gain of $10 million related to the sale of the company's equity interest in certain leases.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on average, expected earnings of 74 cents per share. Analysts typically exclude one-time items from their estimates.

During the quarter, Bank of Hawaii set aside $24.9 million to cover potential loan losses, up from $14.4 million in the year-ago period.

The amount of loans and leases the company considers uncollectable jumped to $14.4 million, or 0.88 percent of total average loans and leases, from $5.4 million in the prior-year quarter. The increase was primarily due to rising losses in the bank's home equity and consumer loan portfolios. Total non-performing assets rose to $40.3 million from $6 million in the first quarter of last year.

Net interest income, or the amount earned from loans and deposits, slipped 5 percent to $97.1 million from $102.2 million.

Deposits increased by $921 million during the quarter to $9.21 billion.

Total noninterest income, or income from fees and other charges, fell 18 percent to $70.4 million.