Meridian Interstate Bancorp Inc. Tuesday announced net income of $2.7 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30, up from $2.6 million in the same period last year.
Meridian is the parent of East Boston Savings Bank and Mt. Washington Bank. For the nine months ended Sept. 30, net income was $10.3 million, compared with $10 million for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2011.
The company recorded a pre-tax gain of $4.8 million on June 8 from the sale of Hampshire First Bank, which was 43 percent owned by the company, to NBT Bancorp, Inc. and NBT Bank, N.A. On an after-tax basis, this gain increased net income by $2.9 million for the nine months ended Sept. 30, the company said.
Chairman and CEO Richard J. Gavegnanosaid in a statement that third-quarter net interest income rose 15 percent to $16.4 million, reflecting growth in the bank’s loan portfolio of $391 million and core depositions of $271 million since September 2011.
"Such significant growth validates the actions taken over the past year to expand capacity in real estate and business lending, core deposit funding sources and support functions that contributed to increases in our market share and franchise value," he said. "We will continue to expand our footprint with a new East Boston Savings Bank branch in the town of Belmont and a new Mt. Washington branch in Boston’s Allston neighborhood to be opened late this year or early next year."
Non-performing loans declined $13 million to $40.7 million, or 2.5 percent of total loans outstanding, at Sept. 30, 2012 from Dec. 31, 2011. Non-performing assets declined 25 percent to $43.2 million, or 2 percent of total assets, at Sept. 30, from $57.5 million, or 2.91 percent of total assets, at Dec. 31, 2011.
Non-performing assets at Sept. 30 were comprised of $7.8 million of construction loans, $9.2 million of commercial real estate loans, $19.2 million of one- to four-family mortgage loans, $1.5 million of multi-family mortgage loans, $2.5 million of home equity loans, and $525,000 of commercial business loans and foreclosed real estate of $2.5 million. Non-performing assets at Sept. 30, 2012 included $20 million of assets acquired in the January 2010 Mt. Washington Co-operative Bank merger.
Non-interest income increased $1 million, or 29 percent, to $4.5 million for the quarter. For the nine months ended Sept. 30, non-interest income increased $4.7 million, or 37.5 percent to $17.1 million, mainly due to a $4.8 million gain on sale of the Hampshire First Bank affiliate.
Total assets increased 12 percent to $2.2 billion as of Sept. 30, from $1.97 billion at Dec. 31, 2011. Net loans increased 21 percent to $1.625 billion at Sept. 30, from $1.3 billion at Dec. 31, 2011. The net increase in loans for the nine months ended Sept. 30 was attributed mainly to increases of $83.2 million in commercial real estate loans, $97.3 million in construction loans and $64.0 million in commercial business loans.
Total deposits increased $192.4 million, or 12 percent to $1.8 billion at Sept. 30, 2012 from $1.6 billion at Dec. 31, 2011.
