In Brief: Garden State Bancshares Had a Turnaround Year

JACKSON, N.J. - Garden State Bancshares reported 1994 net income of $2.1 million, reversing a $537,000 loss in 1993.

Fourth-quarter net income was $763,000, up 58.6% from the fourth quarter of 1993. The increase included a federal tax benefit of $600,000 from an accounting change.

Nonperforming assets declined 54% from the end of 1993, to $8.3 million.

Garden State raised $3.7 million in the second stage of its capital raising program, which involved exercising almost 650,000 warrants before the end of 1994. The warrants were convertible into shares of common stock at $5.75 per share.

The bank had raised an initial $3.7 million from the first offering last April, which led federal and state regulators to replace a consent agreement with a memorandum of understanding last June.

Equity capital was $25.7 million, giving the bank a Tier 1 capital ratio of 8.59%.

Garden State, with $306.4 million in assets, is the holding company for Garden State Bank, which has eight branches in Monmouth and Ocean counties.