PFF Bancorp's numbers tell its troubled story

     Several customers and shareholders are well aware that PFF Bancorp, the parent of PFF Bank & Trust, is in a world of hurt because it made risky loans to home developers.
     But the story isn't done justice without numbers.
     The Rancho Cucamonga-based financial holding company released some mind-boggling data on Thursday morning in its 186-page annual 10-K financial report, and the numbers aren't surprising.
     For starters, customers collectively pulled out almost $520 million in deposits between March 31 and June 13. That's about 16 percent of the bank's total deposits reported for the fiscal year ending March 31.
     Over the same fiscal year, PFF's debtors couldn't pay back 468 loans worth $955 million, and about $608 million of this shows "weakness in the underlying collateral or borrower strength."
     PFF is also reporting a loss of $225 million for that fiscal year, mostly because of its $322-million provision for loan and lease losses.
     Compare that to its fiscal year 2007 provision, which didn't even hit $10 million.
     And shareholder equity has plunged almost 70 percent, from $397 million to $124 million.
     Last week PFF announced plans to be acquired by FBOP Corp., a $16.3-billion private Illinois-based holding company that owns California National Bank.
     If PFF shareholders approve the deal, they'd net $1.35 per share -- just a fraction of the stock's $39.20 value in mid-2006.
     And if they don't approve, FBOP will still be top shareholder, owning almost 20 percent of the bank. That's because the private financial company is loaning $7 million to PFF.
     PFF also said last week that it once again couldn't make deadline on a $44 million loan to an undisclosed lender. That deadline was negotiated and pushed off until June 16 of next year.
--matthew.wrye@inlandnewspapers.com

     Click on the think below to see PFF Bancorp's 10-K annual report:

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