NHTB earnings flat in second quarter

The 2012 second-quarter earnings of Lake Sunapee Bank's parent company didn't improve much from last year's second quarter.

New Hampshire Thrift Bancshares Inc. reported earnings of $2 million, or 30 cents a diluted share, virtually the same as it did last year. Earnings were up by $12,000 and diluted earnings per share were down by a couple of pennies, and the dividend – 13 cents a share — was also the same.

That brings the company's net income for the first half of the year to $4.1 million, a $70,000 increase, with diluted earnings down 3 cents.

New Hampshire Thrift Bancshare's assets rose to $1.1 billion, a 9.6 percent increase, and loans increased 11 percent to $76.7 million. Deposits increased 3 percent to $827 million, and the percentage of nonperforming loans (as a percentage of total loans) fell from 2.32 percent to 1.91 percent.