Solera National Bank in Lakewood showed its first quarterly profit just seven months after a public proxy battle that pushed out the previous leadership because of poor performance, according to financial statements released Monday.
Though Solera and its parent, Solera National Bancorp, turned a critical financial corner in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, it still recorded a net loss on the year of 16 cents per share, according to the statements.
That’s less than the 25 cents per share loss it recorded for the year ended Dec. 31, 2013, and which prompted a proxy battle that toppled an 11-member board made up of prominent Denver-area Latinos, many of them founders of the bank in 2006.
led by its largest shareholder, businessman Michael Quagliano.
Solera CEO Robert Fenton attributed the quarterly profit in part to shutting down its residential mortgage lending division and focusing more on commercial business banking, which yielded about $3 million in net loan growth.
He also attributed some of the year-end losses to about $290,000 the bank spent in the proxy battle that brought Fenton back as controlling executive. He had been the bank’s chief financial officer until his ouster a year earlier.
“2014 was a challenging year for Solera but we ended the year on a firm foundation,” Fenton said in a statement. “As we enter 2015, the company is a lean and efficient organization, supported by a strong balance sheet, solid asset quality, and the capital to fund loan growth.”
Solera reported net income of $401,000, or 15 cents per share, in the fourth quarter, a bounce back from the 17 cents per share it lost in the previous quarter.
Profits in part came from losing the bank’s mortgage lending division, which operated for only about two years. Though the bank had been formed to cater to the Hispanic community, lending records proved it actually did very little lending to that community, even after firing up the mortgage division, .
Fenton said the bank is leaner today and showing more promise than years past.
“Returning the bank to a profitable condition in fourth quarter 2014 was an important accomplishment,” he said in the statement. “We have taken decisive actions to correct past management practices that will enable us to meet or exceed regulatory and operational standards.”
David Migoya: 303-954-1506, dmigoya@denverpost.com or twitter.com/davidmigoya
