PacWest Bancorp in San Diego said Thursday that fourth-quarter earnings fell 43% from a year earlier, to $9.6 million, as a result of higher credit costs.
Earnings per share fell 44%, to 35 cents, beating the average estimates of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters by a penny.
The results included a one-time gain of $3.1 million, or 11 cents a share, related to stock amortization and income taxes.
With credit quality weakening, the $4.5 billion-asset PacWest's provision for credit losses nearly tripled, to $8.8 million. Nonperforming assets more than quadrupled, to $105 million.
PacWest added about $280 million of deposits during the quarter, largely from the acquisition of the failed Security Pacific Bank in Los Angeles. Deposits increased 7% from a year earlier, to $3.5 billion.
Last week PacWest announced that it had raised roughly $100 million by selling 3.8 million shares to CapGen Capital Group in a private placement. The additional capital is expected to be used for general corporate purposes, to fund debt retirement, and to take advantage of opportunities in the market.
The CapGen infusion brought PacWest's total risk-based capital ratio to 14.22% and the Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio to 12.97%.
