Fidelity Bancorp, Inc. Announces First Quarter Earnings For Fiscal 2010

PITTSBURGH, Jan. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Fidelity Bancorp, Inc. (Nasdaq: FSBI) the holding company for Fidelity Bank, PaSB of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania  (the "Company") today announced first quarter earnings for the three-month period ended December 31, 2009. Net income for the period was $232,000 or $0.04 per share (diluted), as compared to net income of $1.7 million or $0.53 per share (diluted) in the prior year quarter. The $1.5 million decrease in net income primarily reflects charges of $1.2 million for other-than-temporary impairment ("OTTI") on certain investment securities.  Annualized return on assets was 0.13% and return on equity was 1.97% for the fiscal 2010 period, compared to 0.91% and 15.66%, respectively, for the same period in the prior year.  

The Company's net interest income before provision for loan losses decreased $1.0 million or 22.2% to $3.6 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, compared to $4.7 million in the prior year period. The decrease primarily reflects a decrease in the interest rate spread.  The Company's tax equivalent interest rate spread decreased to 2.04% for the three months ended December 31, 2009 compared to 2.52% in the prior year.  

The provision for loan losses decreased to $300,000 for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, compared to $555,000 in the prior year quarter. The provision for loan losses is charged to operations to bring the total allowance for loan losses to a level that reflects management's best estimates of the losses inherent in the portfolio.  When determining the provision for loan losses, the company considers a number of factors some of which include specific credit reviews, non-performing, delinquency and charge-off trends, concentrations of credit, loan volume trends and broader local and national economic trends.  Net charge-offs for the three-months ended December 31, 2009 were $39,000 compared to $394,000 in the prior year period.  Non-performing assets and foreclosed real estate were 2.22% of total assets at December 31, 2009, and the allowance for loan losses was 36.7% of non-performing loans and 1.46% of gross loans at that date.  Non-performing assets and foreclosed real estate were 1.24% of total assets at December 31, 2008, and the allowance for loan losses was 39.6% of non-performing loans and 0.75% of gross loans at that date.