First Busey Corporation (Nasdaq: BUSE) consolidated net income for the quarter ended March 31, 2008 was $10.0 million compared to $7.7 million for the same period in 2007. Consolidated net income per fully-diluted share for the quarter ended March 31, 2008 totaled $0.28 compared to $0.36 per fully-diluted share for the same period in 2007.
Excluding after-tax amortization, net income was $10.7 million or $0.30 per fully-diluted share. In January 2008, we paid a dividend of $0.20 per share or $7.2 million total.
The decline in first quarter per share net income was primarily due to credit related costs. During the first quarter of 2008, we added $1.3 million, after tax, to our provision for loan losses, which represented $0.04 per fully-diluted share. The increase in provision brought our total allowance for loan losses to $42.9 million or 1.37% of loans. Our non-performing loans totaled $32.0 million, which included $26.7 million in non-accrual loans. Once a loan is placed on non-accrual status, we no longer record interest income on the loan, which represents another aspect of credit cost. Our allowance to non-performing loans coverage ratio was 134.3% at March 31, 2008. Net charge offs in the quarter totaled $1.8 million.
FirsTech, Inc., our payment processing subsidiary, continues to perform very well with net income of $0.6 million in the first quarter, which includes $0.1 million of amortization expense, after tax. FirsTech's return on average equity was 16.6% and return on average tangible equity was 98.0%. Although FirsTech is a small piece of our current organization, you can see why we are excited about FirsTech's potential.
We have continued to experience deterioration in our loan portfolio, primarily in southwest Florida. Our talented group of management and associates, both in Illinois and Florida, are working diligently to guide your Company through this challenging credit environment. We expect that the credit issues could continue to weigh on our financial performance through 2008 and into 2009. However, we continue to position ourselves to come through this difficult earnings environment ready to take advantage of the opportunities that we hope will follow.
Our strong position is rooted in our quality balance sheet. In addition to our allowance for loan losses, we have maintained our capital, for the organization and our banks, above the minimum standards for a "well capitalized" institution. -- First Busey Corporation
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