Associated Bank reports second consecutive profitable quarter; M&I lost $616.9 million in 2010
Associated Bank reports second consecutive profitable quarter
Green Bay-based Associated Banc-Corp reported net income of $6.6 million, or 4 cents per common share, for the fourth quarter of 2010.
It was the second consecutive profitable quarter for Associated Bank, which is the second-largest Wisconsin-based bank and is poised to become the largest bank based in the state once the acquisition of Milwaukee-based Marshall & Ilsely Corp. by Toronto-based MBO Financial Group is completed.
Associated Bank reported net income of $6.9 million, or 4 cents per common share, in the third quarter of 2010.
For all of 2010 the company reported a net loss of $30.4 million, or 18 cents per common share. However, that was a significant improvement from 2009, when the company reported a net loss of $161.2 million, or $1.26 per common share.
“Fourth quarter results reflect several positive signs and trends," said Philip Flynn, president and chief executive officer of Associated Banc-Corp. "Credit quality continued to improve. We saw growth in the company’s loan portfolio this quarter, and we saw modest growth in C&I and home equity loans for the second consecutive quarter."
While we accomplished many of our objectives during the past year, our full attention is now on the more challenging job of ensuring profitable growth. We spent a great deal of time looking at our core businesses and developing plans to ensure the profitable growth of the company. We have recalibrated the company’s business portfolio to more properly align our business activities around our core businesses and created a more balanced approach to growing deposits and loans. We believe the enhancements we have made to our business portfolio, along with our strategic initiatives, position us well for future growth.
"Given an improving economic environment, we expect to see loan growth and margin expansion in 2011. We also believe that provisions for loan losses will continue to decline. In addition, as we have stated in the past, we expect to repay the U.S. Treasury TARP funds this year. We are pleased with the progress we have made and believe that our ongoing investments in additional talent and our core businesses during 2011 will position our company for more rapid growth in 2012 and beyond."
M&I lost $616.9 million in 2010
Milwaukee-based Marshall & Ilsley Corp. today announced it lost $616.9 million, or $1.18 per share, in its final year as an independent publicly held company.
The loss for fiscal 2010 was actually less than its 2009 net loss of $858.8 million, or $2.46 per share.
For the most recent fourth quarter, the parent company of M&I Bank lost $133.4 million, or 25 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $259.5 million, or 54 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.
Wisconsin’s largest bank continued to address credit quality in the fourth quarter of 2010 by identifying and writing down troubled assets, selling problem loans, reducing exposure to construction and development loans, and maintaining loan loss reserves. Nonperforming loans decreased 23 percent from fourth quarter 2009 – the sixth consecutive quarterly decline and down 35 percent from high in second quarter 2009.
"Our fourth quarter results were substantially better than the same period last year," said Mark Furlong, president and chief executive officer of M&I. "We continue to make steady progress in addressing credit challenges, posting six consecutive quarters of asset quality improvement, and we continue to remain diligent in improving our credit profile."
On Dec. 17, M&I entered into a definitive agreement under which BMO Financial Group, the Montreal-based parent company of Harris Financial Corp., will acquire all outstanding shares of common stock of M&I in a stock-for-stock transaction. Under the terms of the agreement, each outstanding share of M&I will be exchanged for 0.1257 shares of Bank of Montreal stock upon closing. The transaction is expected to close prior to July 31, 2011. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals and approval from shareholders of M&I.
