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Washington Federal of Seattle is bulking up in Oregon with an agreement to buy South Valley Bancorp of Klamath Falls for up to $72.7 million in cash and stock.
April 5 -
Washington Federal Inc. in Seattle said Wednesday that its fiscal-year first-quarter earnings jumped 36% from a year earlier, to $33.4 million, due to lower credit expenses.
January 11
Improved asset quality and declining expenses powered Washington Federal (WAFD) in Seattle to a $34 million profit in the quarter that ended March 31, a 32% increase from the same period in 2011. The thrift company's earnings per share also rose 32%, to 32 cents, beating by two cents consensus estimates of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
Overall loan growth was sluggish as increased demand for commercial loans could not offset runoff its mortgage portfolio, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Roy M. Whitehead said in a news release Thursday. But net income was bolstered by a 25% decline in its interest expense as interest rates remained low and a 40% drop in its provision for loan losses, which the $13.6 billion-asset bank attributed to continued declines in problem loans. Since peaking at $606 million three years ago, nonperforming assets have declined by more than half, to $286 million at March 31.
For the six months that ended March 31 — the company's fiscal year begins Oct. 1 — Washington Federal said that earnings climbed 34% from the same six-month period a year earlier, to $67.5 million.
Washington Federal has nearly 170 branches in eight states and, flush with capital from a stock sale in 2009, intends to continue growing through acquisitions. It recently
