Hanmi Financial Corp. in Los Angeles said Thursday that it lost $3.8 million, or 8 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, as a result of higher credit costs.
The $3.9 billion-asset Hanmi cited a loan-loss provision that increased 23% from a year earlier and doubled from the third quarter, to $25.5 million.
Analysts on average had expected the company to report a loss 15 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters.
Hanmi had lost $100 million in the fourth quarter of 2007, when it recorded a $102.9 million noncash goodwill impairment charge.
"The economic downturn has adversely affected many of our customers, both small businesses and larger commercial borrowers, and this in turn has led to higher delinquency rates and an increase in nonperforming loans," Jay S. Yoo, Hanmi's president and chief executive officer, said in a press release. "Current indications are that this economic situation will persist well into 2009."
Hanmi's shares fell 15.6% Thursday, to $1.68.
