Brooklyn branch deals help boost Flushing Financial earnings

The sale and leaseback of three Brooklyn branch buildings helped Flushing Financial Corp. of Uniondale post a 27 percent increase in second quarter net income compared to a year earlier.

The parent of the 18-branch Flushing Bank said net income for the three months ended June 30 was $14.8 million or 51 cents a share, including a gain of $6.5 million of the $12.7 million total gain from the sale leaseback of the branches. In a sale leaseback, the seller of an asset leases back the same asset from the purchaser and continues to use it.

The remainder of the $12.7 million gain will be recognized over the term of the branch leases, Flushing said.

The company also reported one-time expenses including a write-down of $900,000 of foreclosed properties and $400,000 in expenses to move into new headquarters in the RXR Plaza, where its 18th branch was opened.

Flushing said non-performing assets were at their lowest level since September 2008.

Net interest income, the difference between revenue generated from a bank's assets and the expenses associated with its liabilities, rose 3.6 percent in the quarter from a year earlier, to $38.1 million.

Total assets at June 30 were $5.4 billion.