PATTEN – Katahdin Bankshares Corp., parent company of Katahdin Trust Co., has announced first-quarter earnings of $528,000.

The bank’s first-quarter dividend of 35 cents per share represents a 16.7 percent increase over the prior year, according to Katahdin Trust’s president and CEO, Jon J. Prescott. Book value of Katahdin Bankshares stock reached $57.89 per share, a 26.7 percent increase over the same period last year.

Net loans at $181,475,000 represent a $21 million increase, or 13.1 percent over the prior year. Deposits grew moderately to nearly $209 million and total assets reached $283,355,000, an 8.0 percent increase over the prior year. Prescott stated that net income for the first quarter at $528,000 was slightly less than the same period last year. The reduction is a result of the compression of net interest margins, in which yields on assets are repricing downward at a much faster rate than liabilities due to the lowest interest rate environment in more than 40 years.