Butterfield Bank earnings are up 12.7 percent in the first three months of the year to $24.3 million. The bank yesterday reported to shareholders that per share the results through March 30 broke down to $1.04 per share - an improvement of 12 cents per share on a year prior.

President and CEO Alan Thompson said in a BSX-issued Press release: "We continue to remain pleased with the bank's performance and the significant continued progress across all our core businesses seen over the past 12 months. Particularly notable is the significant year on year increases in revenues achieved by our businesses in Barbados, Guernsey, and the United Kingdom. Our strong all round performance as a group highlights the continuing effectiveness of our business model and the commitment and creativity of all our employees."

In an interview with The Royal Gazette earlier this month Mr. Thompson said: "We think our model is working, and if we can meet shareholder expectations, we don't see a reason for change."

Butterfield said its goal was to meet or exceed a return on equity of 20 percent, and so far it had been able to do that.

Butterfield, a founding member of the Bermuda Stock Exchange, is currently held by a large Bermudian shareholder base with 70 percent of its investors being locals.

While speculation that the bank could list on a major stock exchange or even be sold has been widespread since rival Bank of Bermuda listed some years ago on the Nasdaq and then was sold for $1.3 billion to multinational banking giant HSBC Plc. more than a year ago, Butterfield has so far ruled out any such developments.

CFO Richard Ferrett said: "Our return on equity for the quarter was 22.7 percent, remaining in line with our target to achieve a return exceeding 20 percent. Significant increases were seen year on year in the bank's revenue generation with net interest income increasing by 29.5 percent and revenues from trust and investment services and asset management increasing by 44.6 percent and 37.5 percent respectively.

Mr. Ferrett said the growth in the bank's customer deposit base and loan portfolio could largely be attributed to its UK acquisition of Leopold Joseph as well as increased revenues generated by our businesses groupwide. The bank said it would maintain the quarterly dividend of 41 cents per share, payable on Monday, 16 May, 2005 to shareholders of record as of Wednesday, 4 May, 2005. Taking into account the one-for-ten stock dividend given to shareholders last August, the dividend payment represents a year on year increase of 16.5 percent.