Lincoln Bancorp’s Profit Jumps 78% for 4th Quarter

Lincoln Bancorp, the Encino holding company for Lincoln National Bank, said a surge in net interest income helped its fourth-quarter profit rise 78% from a year earlier.

In the quarter ended Dec. 31, Lincoln’s net income jumped to $1.44 million, or 46 cents a share, from $807,496, or 36 cents a share, a year earlier. The per-share figures reflect a 5% stock dividend that Lincoln distributed last June.

Lincoln’s net interest income--the amount of interest it has earned minus the interest it paid for deposits--rose to $5.8 million in the latest quarter from $4 million a year ago.

For all of 1988, Lincoln’s profit nearly doubled to $4.19 million, or $1.36 a share, from $2.12 million, or 92 cents a share, in 1987. Lincoln’s assets as of Dec. 31 totaled $416.5 million, up 38% from $301 million a year earlier.