TFS Financial Posts 4Q Loss On Loan Losses

CLEVELAND (AP) — Bank holding company TFS Financial Corp. said Friday that a surge in souring loans drove it to a fiscal fourth-quarter loss against a year-earlier profit.

For the three months ended Sept. 30, the company lost $12.9 million, 4 cents per share. That compared with a profit of $14.1 million, or 4 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.

For the full-year, the company earned $14.4 million, or 5 cents per share, down 74 percent from last year's profit of $54.5 million, or 17 cents per share.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a quarterly profit of 3 cents per share for TFS, which is the holding company for Third Federal Savings and Loan Association. The full-year earnings forecast was 12 cents per share.

In the latest quarter, TFS recorded loan loss provisions of $57 million, compared with $9 million for the fourth quarter of 2008. Net charge-offs were $17.6 million for the quarter, compared with $7.4 million last year.

For the year, loan loss provisions were $115 million, compared with $34.5 million last year. Net charge-offs were $63.5 million in 2009 and $15.8 million in 2008.