Porter Bancorp, the parent company of PBI Bank, has reported a net income of $2.3 million, or $0.26 per fully diluted common share, for the fourth quarter of 2008 compared with $3.6 million, or $0.44 per fully diluted common share, for the fourth quarter of 2007.
The company has reported net interest income of $11.5 million for the three months ended December 31, 2008, a 2.7% decrease compared with the same quarter of 2007.
Earnings for the year ended December 31, 2008, were $14 million, or $1.68 per fully diluted common share, compared with $14.2 million, or $1.77 per fully diluted common share, for the same period of 2007. The company also reported a 10.9% increase in loans to $1.4 billion and a 10.5% increase in deposits to $1.3 billion compared with year-end 2007.
Maria Bouvette, president and CEO of Porter Bancorp, said: We experienced an increase in non-performing loans in the fourth quarter due to the continuing weakness in the economy. We increased our provision for loan losses to $2.75 million in the fourth quarter, up from $1.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2007, to account for an increase in non-performing loans and to increase our loan loss reserve to ensure that we have strong reserves to see us through this extraordinarily challenging and uncertain economic environment.
