MORENO VALLEY, Calif., Nov. 10, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Valley Bank (OTCBB:VMOY) announced it earned $27,451, or 1 cent a share, in the third quarter ended Sept. 30. In the same quarter a year ago, the bank earned $111,253, or 4 cents a share. Results from a year ago included a one-time gain of approximately $150,000 from the sale of SBA loans.
In the first nine months of 2003, the Moreno Valley-based bank earned $348,778 or 14 cents a share. During the same period a year ago, the bank had earnings of $721,928, or 29 cents a share. Results from a year ago included $607,000 in one-time tax benefits.
Valley Bank in the third quarter benefited from better than expected contributions from its mortgage lending division and continued low cost core deposits.
"Despite continued downward pressure on interest rates, we still were able to boost core earnings in the third quarter, " said Gene Wood, president and chief executive.
Interest income in the quarter totaled $898,781, down $260,764, or 22.5 percent, from the same period a year ago.
Loans at the end of the third quarter reached $63.5 million, up from $51.4 million a year ago. Assets as of Sept. 30 were $84.4 million, up from $78.9 million a year ago.
Assets increased despite the sale of approximately $9 million in deposits from a closed Sun City branch in December 2002.
Problem loans at the end of the third quarter were down dramatically. A year ago Valley Bank had nearly $3 million of past due and non-accrual loans. At the end of the third quarter it fell to $538,000.
Valley Bank, with assets of nearly $85 million, is a 43-year-old community bank with branches in Moreno Valley, Grand Terrace, the Woodcrest area of Riverside and Perris and a mortgage loan office in Fontana that serve fast-growing areas of the Inland Empire.