First Mariner Bancorp, the parent company of First Mariner Bank and Finance Maryland LLC, on Tuesday announced its highest-ever first-quarter profit.
The company also reported that its net income for the first quarter of 2006 increased 21 percent, totaling $1.660 million or 25 cents per diluted share, compared with net income of $1.375 million or 22 cents per diluted share for the same quarter in 2005. Additionally, the company saw its total assets increase by 6 percent to $1.355 billion compared with the same period the year before and its loans increase by 11 percent to $851.9 million.
“Operating performance for the first quarter of 2006 was solid with earnings growth of 21 percent,” Edwin F. Hale Sr., First Mariner?s chairman and chief executive, said in a statement. “This quarter?s profit increases were driven by strong results in our mortgage banking and consumer finance units, which helped drive a 33 percent increase in non-interest income.”
