Suffolk Bancorp reports improved earnings

Suffolk Bancorp, the Riverhead company that runs branches of Suffolk County National Bank, announced improved second quarter profits compared to last year.

The bank holding company had profits of $4.2 million -- or earnings of 43 cents per share -- the past quarter, a 28 percent increase from the $3.3 million in profits from the same period in 2011.

The increase in profit was primarily attributed to a $2.4 million credit to the bank's bottom line because of a reduction in the company's loan loss allowances.

“I am extremely pleased with the progress we made during the second quarter in cleaning up our balance sheet," Suffolk Bancorp chief executive Howard Bluver said in a news release.

Bluver took over the reins at Suffolk Bancorp earlier this year, after helping the company deal with a crisis as a consultant, as the bank was facing a possible delisting from the NASDAQ exchange for turning in financial documents late.

"With the new executive team fully in place, we were able to make significant progress this quarter in reducing our levels of both non-performing loans and our criticized and classified loan book," Bluver added.