DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 
 

BB&T Corp.'s (BBT) third-quarter earnings fell 58% on a big jump in credit-loss provisions as the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast regional bank took over a failed rival.

Regarded as one of the most-stable regional banks, BB&T has strengthened its capital base in August with a $963 million offering of common stock after it purchased most of the assets and all the deposits of failed Colonial BancGroup Inc.

However, it hasn't been immune to the problems plaguing the rest of the industry, and Monday the company said nonperforming assets, or loans in danger of going bad, continued to rise.

In June, the bank was among the first to pay back $3.1 billion it had received from the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program.

BB&T company posted a profit of $152 million, or 23 cents a share, compared with a profit of $358 million, or 65 cents a share, a year earlier. It had 24% more shares outstanding a year ago. A survey of analysts by Thomson Reuters predicted a profit of 22 cents a share.

Interest income decreased 2.5% to $1.8 million.

Credit-loss provisions soared 95% to $709 million from $364 million a year earlier, and rose from the second quarter's $701 million. Nonperforming assets, or loans in danger of going bad, rose to 2.48% from 1.2% a year earlier and 2.19% from the previous quarter. Net charge-offs, loans the bank doesn't expect to collect, rose to 1.71% from 1% last year but fell from 1.81% last quarter.

BB&T's tangible common equity ratio, which measures how much of a bank's hard assets it common shareholder actually own, rose to 6.1% from 5.8% a year earlier but fell from 6.5% in the previous quarter.

Average client deposits were up 20% from a year earlier amid the Colonial takeover, while average loans and leases held for investment saw a 6% increase.

BB&T shares closed Friday at $28.25 and weren't active premarket Monday. The stock is up slightly so far this year.

-By Joan E. Solsman, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2291; joan.solsman@dowjones.com