Seacoast Banking Corp. of Florida said its fourth-quarter earnings fell 44% from the same period in 2003, to $3.7 million. Full-year earnings rose 6.7%, to $14.9 million.
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The $1.6 billion-asset Stuart company said Monday that the fourth-quarter earnings drop was caused by a change in the way it accounted for a $54 million interest rate swap transaction that occurred in January 2003.
Aside from the accounting changes, Seacoast's fourth-quarter results were positive. Its net interest margin widened by 32 basis points, to 3.89%, and that widening sparked a 9.5% increase in net interest income, to $14 million.
Also, nonperforming assets dropped by more than half last year, to $1.4 million at yearend.
