Synovus Financial said Tuesday it cut its first-quarter loss nearly 60 percent from a year ago, as credit costs and write-offs of bad loans improved.
Columbus-based Synovus, parent of Bank of North Georgia and Columbus Bank & Trust, reported a loss of $93.7 million, compared with a loss of $229.8 million in the first quarter a year ago.
On a per-share basis, Synovus lost 12 cents compared with 47 cents in the quarter a year ago.
Synovus’ loss for the quarter would have been $69.3 million excluding a restructuring charge for the company’s previously announced cuts of more than 850 jobs and the shuttering of 39 bank branches. The company’s head count has dropped nearly 10 percent since the end of 2010.
"During the quarter, we continued to execute on credit resolution and efficiency," Synovus President and CEO Kessel D. Stelling said in an earnings release.
Net charge-offs, the amount of bad loans written off, were $167 million, the lowest level since the third quarter of 2008, Synovus said.
Total nonperforming assets, those loans no longer earning interest, were $1.28 billion, down slightly from fourth quarter 2010, and 31 percent from first quarter 2010.
“These improving trends support our belief that we will return to sustainable profitability during 2011,” Stelling said.
Not all the news was good, however. New problem loans were $306.5 million, up 4 percent from fourth quarter 2010, though down 42 percent from a year ago.
Chris Marinac, a bank analyst with FIG Partners in Atlanta, called it a mixed quarter for Synovus.
“There are positives there. But the company still has some challenges ahead of them,” Marinac said.
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