NEWPORT – Newport Bancorp Inc., the bank holding company that owns Newport Federal Savings Bank, on Wednesday posted a $708,000 annual profit for 2009, rebounding from an $848,000 loss a year earlier.

The full-year results were boosted by the bank’s performance in the fourth quarter, when it reported net income of $399,000, compared with a $609,000 loss a year earlier.

Earnings for the quarter were 11 cents per diluted share, which missed the 12-cent estimate by Frank Schiraldi of Sandler O’Neill & Partners L.P., the only analyst who follows Newport Bancorp, according to Yahoo! Finance.

For the full year, interest income and non-interest income for Newport Bancorp was $15.59 million, up 14 percent from $13.63 million in 2008.

One reason Newport Bancorp’s performance looked better was the lack of an impairment charge of $706,000 the bank took in 2008 for its holding in the AMF Ultra Short Mortgage Fund.

Loans that were more than 90 days past due made up 0.19 percent of Newport Bancorp’s assets at the close of 2009. Although that was a relatively small amount, the bank did not have any non-performing assets on its books a year earlier.

For the fourth quarter, Newport Bancorp lowered its loan-loss provision – money set aside in anticipation of bad loans – to $146,000, down from $223,000 a year earlier.

Total assets increased 6.1 percent in 2009, from $432.34 million to $458.88 million, the bank said. Total deposits rose 8.1 percent to $407.49 million.

Newport Federal Savings Bank was the 10th-largest bank in Rhode Island by deposits as of June 2009, according to FDIC data.

Additional information is available at www.newportfederal.com.