The Enfield parent of New England Bank reported a second quarter profit Thursday, reversing the residential and commercial real estate lender’s loss in the same time period a year ago.
New England Bancshares primarily attributed its return to second-quarter profitability to higher income from loans and service fees and lower one-time charges, including the absence of expenses related to its 2009 acquisition of and Cheshire’s Apple Valley Bank & Trust and the combination of its former Enfield Federal Savings & Loan and Valley Bank units.
For the three months ended June 30 New England Bancshares said it earned $681,000, or 11 cents a share, compared to a loss of $181,000, or 3 cents a share, the same period a year ago.
“We continue to benefit from the acquisitions we made over the last three years as evidenced by the increase in the company’s net interest income,” said President and CEO David J. O’Connor.
O’Connor said, however, that economic uncertainty has caused some borrowers to move cautiously “with respect to business decisions, such as purchasing properties or entering into new ventures.”
 That in turn “slowed the growth in our loan portfolio in the first fiscal quarter,” he said.
New England Bank’s net loans increased $8.4 million, or 1.6 percent in the quarter, to $523.9 million.
Meanwhile the bank’s net interest income from loans and other interest-bearing assets jumped 42 percent in the quarter to $5.5 million.
Earnings also improved without the $322,000 Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. special assessment and $220,000 of year-earlier merger expenses.
New England Bancshares had $692 million in assets at June 30.
