Katahdin Bankshares announces increase in six-month earnings – 2008

Officials with Katahdin Bankshares Corporation, parent company of Katahdin Trust Company, have announced 2008 earnings for the first six months of $2,184,000, representing a 6.1 percent increase over the same period in 2007. Regarding the company’s six-month results, Katahdin Trust Company President and CEO Jon J. Prescott noted the performance “clearly reflects our commitment to sound banking principles, solid decisions and the opportunity to serve good markets. We are working to be the strongest bank we can be given the economic constraints we face today and in the future.”
    Total assets reached a record high at $473,711,000. Prescott attributed the increase in large part to loan growth of $46,973,000 or 15.2 percent over the same period last year and the addition of $8,803,000 to the investment portfolio. Prescott further noted that much of the bank’s loan growth could be attributed to the Katahdin Bankshares’ expansion into the Bangor and greater Portland market areas with commercial lending services as well as the acquisition of Maine Financial Group, a loan production office located in Scarborough, late in the first quarter of 2007.
“Our brand of banking continues to be well-received in areas where we have never had a presence before,” he said. Total deposits at $364,850,000 represented a 16.2 percent increase over the first six months of 2007.
The company’s second quarter dividend of $.082 per share represented a 20.6 percent increase over 2007.
Katahdin Bankshares Corp. stock is quoted on the NASDAQ Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board (OTCBB) under the symbol KTHN. Current stock information can be found on the OTCBB Web site at otcbb.com.
Katahdin Trust Company was recognized in the June 2008 issue of US Banker magazine among the Top 200 publicly traded community banks in the United States with respect to Average Return on Equity over a three-year period, a standard of bank performance which measures sustained profitability as indexed to the bank’s equity capital.
Established in 1918, Katahdin Trust Company provides banking services to individuals and businesses from 14 offices in northern Maine, online at katahdintrust.com and operates loan production offices in Bangor and Scarborough.