Northeast Bank profits nearly doubled, thanks to loan growth

Northeast Bank (Nasdaq: NBN), which is based in Portland and has nine branches, said on Wednesday that last year’s fourth quarter net income nearly doubled compared to the same period in 2019.
For the fourth quarter of 2020, net income was $ 8.2 million, or 98 cents per share, compared to $ 4.9 million, or 53 cents per share, for the quarter ended December 31, 2019.
Net income for the six-month period ended December 31, 2020 was $ 16 million, or $ 1.92 per share, compared to $ 9.6 million, or $ 1.05 per share, for the same period in 2019.
The bank’s board of directors declared a cash dividend of one penny per share, payable on February 24, to shareholders of record on February 10.
“We reported strong results in our second fiscal quarter,” CEO Rick Wayne said in a press release. “We closed our largest single loan pool purchase in the bank’s history, which helped our national lending team generate $ 175.9 million of new volume, comprising $ 91.3 million of loans purchased and $ 84.6 million in fixtures. ”
For the fourth quarter of last year, the bank recorded $ 6.1 million in fee income in connection with a deal with Loan Source Inc. and ACAP SME LLC, which overall bought for 1.3 billion dollars in paycheck protection program loans in the quarter.
As of December 31, total assets were $ 1.23 billion, a decrease of $ 23.5 million, or 1.9%, from total assets of $ 1.26 billion until June 30, 2020.
Deposits were down $ 28.4 million, or 2.8%, from June 30, 2020. The decrease is due to a decrease in term deposits of $ 116.6 million, or 24.4%. The decrease was partially offset by increases in demand deposits of $ 33.2 million, or 35%, checking savings and interest accounts of $ 47.6 million, or 34.6%, and money market deposits of $ 7.3 million, or 2.4%.
North-East shore has branches in Auburn, Augusta, Bethel, Brunswick, Buckfield, Harrison, Poland, Portland and south of Paris.