Citadel Holding Posts Earnings Drop of 39%

Citadel Holding Corp., the Glendale parent of Fidelity Federal Bank, said its net income for the first quarter ended March 31 fell 39% percent to $4.42 million from $7.29 million a year before. The thrift holding company’s assets rose 13% to $5.68 billion on March 31, from $5 billion a year ago.

In a statement, William C. Walbrecher, Citadel’s chief executive, attributed the decreasing profit primarily to an increase in the S&L;’s provision for loan and real estate losses to $6 million in the recent quarter from $2.2 million a year ago.

Citadel’s nonperforming assets, as a percentage of total assets, rose to 0.96% on March 31 from 0.72% a year earlier. The company said the increase was mainly due to two partially disbursed residential construction loans, totaling $28.1 million, of which $15.7 million has been disbursed.