People’s United Financial Inc., one of Connecticut’s largest banks, today announced a 42 percent drop in third-quarter net income.
The Bridgeport parent of People’s United Bank waited until after the stock market closed to report net earnings of $26.8 million, or 8 cents per share, down from $46 million, or 14 cents per share, the same period a year ago.
People’s United shares closed today up 19 cents at $15.87.
The bank said third-quarter earnings were dragged down by higher loan charge offs and its decision to increase the allowance for loan losses.
The bank said it also saw continued loan growth, and improvement in fee income and expense control during the quarter.
“Our third-quarter performance reflects continued growth in our core loan portfolios and deposits in spite of a clearly very challenging economic environment,” said CEO Philip R. Sherringham. “We believe our asset quality has held up remarkably well on both a relative and absolute basis through the recent recessionary cycle and most of the bad news is substantially behind us.”
The bank’s board declared 15 cent quarterly dividend, payable Nov. 15 to shareholders of record on Nov.1.
People’s United ended the quarter with $20.8 billion in assets, up from $20 billion a year ago.
