The Bank of Granite did something in the fourth quarter that it has done every quarter for the last 12 years: earn more than in the quarter a year before.
That's 48 consecutive quarters of improved earnings.
"It's extremely unusual for that to happen," said Randall C. Hall, vice president at the $412 million bank, which is based in Granite Falls, N.C. "It reflects our conservative lending practices as well as our management's effectiveness."
The bank, which has 10 offices in three counties in the western part of the state, was aided in part in the fourth quarter by rising interest rates.
Some loans that matured in the fourth quarter were rolled over at the higher rate, Mr. Hall said.
Granite earned $2.7 million in the fourth quarter, a 15.9% jump from the fourth quarter in 1993. Per-share earnings increased by seven cents to 45 cents.
For the 12 months ended Dec. 31, Granite achieved an impressive return on average assets of 2.47% and a return on shareholders' equity of 16.5%.
John J. Mason, a bank analyst at Interstate/Johnson Lane in Atlanta, attributes the bank's success to its attention to controlling costs and the ability of its chairman, John A. Forlines Jr., to hire quality people.
"John (For lines) did something far wiser than what other bankers did," Mr. Mason said. "Instead of buying banks to build up his company, he bought the bankers to build up his bank."
One of those people is Charles M. Snipes - now the company's president - who was hired by Mr. For lines in 1982 from the First National Bank of Catawba County (now First Union Corp.), in Hickory, N.C. The latest such hire occurred last June, when David Clark, 37, formerly a regional president at Branch Banking and Trust Co. of South Carolina, became Granite's chief operating officer.
As an example of Mr. For lines' frugality, the chairman refused to construct a new building when the company needed more space for its main office. Instead, he purchased a bankrupt supermarket in town and converted it into the bank's headquarters.
