Capital Bank Q4 Earnings Rise, Top Street View

(RTTNews) - Capital Bank Financial Corp. (CBF), a holding company for Capital Bank, National Association, Thursday announced a rise in the fourth-quarter earnings, despite decreases in interest and non-interest income, mainly due to lower expenses. Earnings also beat analysts' estimates.

Earnings for the quarter rose to $12.21 million, or $0.23 per share, from $4.64 million, or $0.08 per share, a year earlier. On average, eight analysts polled by Thomson-Reuters estimated the company's earnings to be $0.21 for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.

Net interest income declined to $65.72 million from $67.69 million a year ago, chiefly due to lower loan balances. Net margin increased to 4.52 percent from 4.18 percent last year. Total non-interest income also decreased to $13.27 million from $15.44 million a year ago.

For the 3-month period, non-interest expenses decreased to $56.25 million from $68.72 million a year ago, mostly due to lower legacy credit expenses. Legacy credit expenses decreased to $6.3 million from $12.1 million a year earlier.

Chris Marshall, CFO of Capital Bank Financial Corp., said, "Strong, high quality loan growth, and a significant reduction in legacy credit expenses drove our results this quarter.

Deposits decreased to $5.185 billion from $5.872 billion a year ago. Total loans declined to $4.552 billion from $4.735 billion a year ago.

Efficiency ratio for the fourth quarter was reduced to 71.21 percent from 82.66 percent in the corresponding period last year.