Belmont Bancorp in St. Clairsville, Ohio, said it expects to post a fourth-quarter loss of $2.4 million to $2.6 million.
The $376 million-asset parent of Belmont National Bank said Thursday that, despite continuing efforts to shrink by shedding nonperforming and underperforming assets, it expects its loss for the quarter to be 45 to 50 cents per share.
From last January through September, Belmont reduced its assets by 14.2%, from a beginning total of $438.3 million. However, it lost $7.4 million through the nine months, compared to a $4.6 million profit the year earlier.
In the fourth quarter, Belmont said, $1.1 million of the projected loss stems from the sale of securities and from debt repayment. It said it expects to set aside $850,000 for loan losses and credit downgradings and to reduce its quarterly tax benefit by $1 million by changing the way it calculates deferred-tax assets.
Belmont said it expects not to release its fourth-quarter results until it files its 1999 annual report with the Securities and Exchange Commission in late March.
- Craig Woker
