Pacific Mercantile Bancorp Inc. in Costa Mesa, Calif., said Friday that its third-quarter earnings fell nearly 18% from a year earlier, to $1.4 million.
Earnings per share fell about 19%, to 16 cents.
The $1.1 billion-asset Pacific Mercantile blamed the decrease on a spike in noninterest expenses, specifically a $443,000 noncash charge related to the redemption of $10.3 million of junior subordinated debentures.
Pacific Mercantile reported solid loan and deposit growth, but its asset quality slipped as a result of the slumping real estate market.
Loans classified as nonperforming rose to $6.2 million, or 0.83% of loans, from $781,000, or 0.11% of loans, a year earlier. So far this year it has charged off $1.3 million of loans, versus just $87,000 in the first nine months of last year.
