BankAtlantic Bancorp Inc., still hampered by the real estate downturn, reported a first-quarter net loss of $23.4 million, or 42 cents a share, compared with net income of $5.7 million, or 9 cents per share, a year earlier.
Though the loss, which the $6 billion-asset Fort Lauderdale, Fla., company reported Tuesday, was 32 cents larger than the average estimate, there were some positive signs, including a 10% drop in nonperforming assets from the fourth quarter, to $179 million, and a net interest margin that compressed only 4 basis points, to 3.37%.
The ratio of nonperformers to total loans plus other assets plunged 243 basis points, to 1.67%. Net chargeoffs rose 339 basis points, to 4.06% of average loans, or $47.1 million.
Last week BankAtlantic said it had laid off 115 employees as part of its effort to cut costs and improve efficiency. Late last month it sold 1.9 million of its shares of Stifel Financial Corp., raising about $71.5 million to be used to set up a subsidiary that would house and acquire nonaccruing loans.
