Bridge Bancorp's profit up 10 percent

Bridge Bancorp, which operates Bridgehampton National Bank, said its second-quarter profit rose by 10 percent from a year earlier, to almost $2.5 million, or 38 cents a share.

The gain, announced Friday, came despite $265,000 of after-tax costs from the merger on May 27 of Bridgehampton National and another unit of Bridge Bancorp, the Hamptons State Bank.

The corporation cited as a key factor in the improved earnings an increase in net interest income, to $10.5 million, up 17 percent from a year earlier.

Total assets of $1.193 billion as of June 30 were 23 percent higher than those of June 2010 and included $68.6 million from Hamptons State.

"These remain interesting and challenging times," Kevin M. O'Connor, president and chief executive of Bridge Bancorp Inc., said in a statement accompanying the figures.

"The national economy is again showing signs of slowing with the pundits debating if the slowing is temporary or reflective of a longer-term trend."

But, he said, "the empirical data on employment, real estate values and other measures of economic activity are much better for Long Island than for other parts of New York and the nation."

Bridgehampton National's primary market includes the North and South forks and Brookhaven and Babylon towns. It has 20 branch locations, including one former Hamptons State branch in Southampton.