31 of about $8.5 million, in results that are soon to be released.

President and CEO, Arthur Haycock, has reported in a quarterly newsletter to shareholders, another successful year "with earnings close to 16 percent above those reported last year.'' Bermuda Home declared net income of more than $7.5 million last year, a $50,000-improvement over the year before.

Mr. Haycock reported on Wednesday: "The first half of this year was particularly strong with growth in both mortgage and consumer loans exceeding our projections.

"In addition, the value of our investment portfolio of local companies listed on the Bermuda Stock Exchange rebounded from their previous depressed levels.

"As a result, we brought back into income a one-off gain of $686,000 from restating the carrying value of our investment portfolio at original cost.'' Mr. Haycock also advised that customer deposits continued to grow at a reasonable rate during the fiscal year, as many customers placed funds in the longer term deposits to take advantage of the higher interest rates.

He added, "We realise the importance of good and efficient customer service and that there have been some delays in our deposit service in recent months.

"As a result, we are considering changes to our internal procedures as well as the ground floor layout with the intention of providing our many deposit customers with improved and faster service.'' The rental and property management departments of subsidiary Bermuda Realty have showed continued progress during the year in increasing revenues, while controlling costs.

Mr. Haycock said, "The sales department had a good first six months but real estate sales in the last quarter of this year have been below budget and last year's performance.'' Meanwhile, yesterday Mr. Haycock was optimistic about the real estate market for the year ahead.

He said, "The middle market is fairly buoyant with some activity. In the upper end of the local market ($500,000 to $900,000) there is a lack of supply. There are not that many people selling, although there is some demand.

"The luxury or non-Bermudian market continues to move. There is some turn-over there, after much buoyancy in the last year. Transactions are still taking place.'' BUSINESS BUC