Community Bancshares Inc. of Orangeburg, S.C., said Friday that four large loans booked by one loan officer and classified as nonperforming during the fourth quarter helped spoil its results for the quarter and the year.
The $512 million-asset company reported a loss of $136,000 for the quarter and earnings of $3.2 million for all of last year. The full-year profit fell 43% from 2003.
Samuel L. Erwin, Community's chief executive officer, blamed the results on weakening credit quality, as well as a marked drop in mortgage banking income. The holding company, which has five bank subsidiaries, added $3 million to its loan-loss reserves in the quarter. By comparison, its provision for all of 2003 was $1.1 million.
Mr. Erwin said the loan officer who made the four nonperforming loans has left.
Community did report some good news. Deposits increased a robust 12% last year, to $423.5 million.
