BALTIMORE Provident Bankshares Corp. reported lower-than-expected earnings Monday and said it would have to restate its 1999, 2000, and first-quarter 2001 earnings, blaming problems it recently discovered in its loan portfolio.
Providents earnings for the second quarter were $8 million, or 30 cents per share, about 13 cents below analyst consensus. About $2.2 million was charged off.
The company predicted that income for the first quarter would be lowered by about $400,000, to $10.1 million, and that income for 2000, previously reported at $44 million, would be restated at $39 million. It did not say when it would release the restated earnings.
Last quarter, $5.2 billion-asset Provident reviewed its $1.6 billion worth of second mortgages acquired over the past decade, and discovered previously unidentified losses of $13.8 million. The company began the review after one of its loan-service providers, which serviced about 10% of the portfolio, went bankrupt. Provident said about half of the $13.8 million of losses were related to this servicer.
Gary Geisel, Providents president, said in a conference call Tuesday that the losses went undiscovered for so long because of the companys inadequate communication about delinquencies with some of its 13 loan servicers. He added that Provident has changed its policies and will enlist a team to regularly review servicers of its acquired loan portfolios.
