National City Gain, Old Kent Slip Show Mixture of Results

Earnings results continued to be a mixed bag as Cleveland-based National City Corp. boosted both profits and profitability, while Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Old Kent Financial Corp. increased net income but saw profitability slip mildly.

National City said Monday fourth-quarter earnings rose 8% to $111.4 million, with its annualized return on assets rising 5 basis points to 1.40%. Old Kent boosted earnings by 9.6% to $33.4 million but saw its ROA slip by 2 basis points to 1.25%.

One contributor to the difference was that National City largely focused on honing existing operations over the last year, while Old Kent was involved in a number of acquisitions.

Along with earnings, National City said Monday it would acquire the $600 million-asset United Bancorp of Kentucky in a purchase transaction valued at roughly $66 million.