MBT's 2008 profit slides 78 percent, 4th-period loss up

1/30/2009

MONROE - MBT Financial Corp., the parent company of Monroe Bank & Trust, reported a fourth-quarter 2008 loss of $3 million, or 19 cents a share, worse than the loss of $2.7 million, or 17 cents a share, for the same period a year earlier.

For all 2008, MBT said it had a profit of $1.7 million, or 10 cents a share, down 78 percent from its $7.7 million profit, or 47 cents a share, for 2007.

H. Douglas Chaffin, MBT's president and chief executive officer, said, bank officials "will review the appropriateness of continuing our current level of dividends" when meeting next month.

The Michigan company said its net interest income, a key measure of bank income, dropped in the fourth quarter and for the year. For the quarter, its net interest income dipped to $9.7 million from $10.1 million in the year-earlier period For the year, it declined to $42.4 million from $42.8 million a year earlier. Its provision for loan losses jumped for the year to $18 million from $11.4 million, and it rose for the fourth quarter to $10 million from $8.9 million for the same period a year earlier.

MBT applied last month for the U.S. Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program. Yesterday, it said it was withdrawing. "This decision was based primarily on the company's well-capitalized position and the high cost of this funding," a bank statement said.

MBT announced it has added local businessman Edwin L. Harwood to its board, retained William McIntyre, Jr., as chairman, and named Michael J. Miller as vice chairman.