BNC Bancorp earnings jump

The parent company of Bank of North Carolina said Friday that it's net income for shareholders jumped 73 percent in the first quarter, to $6.5 million from $3.8 million a year ago.

CEO Rick Callicut said BNC Bancorp's performance came despite weaker than expected mortgage and commercial loan businesses, which he said were affected by cold weather.

The bank also launched a home equity line initiative at the end of 2013 that's resulted in $80 million in loan closings.

The results do not include operations from South Street Financial, which BNC acquired earlier this year. The deal with the parent company of Home Savings of Albemarle closed April 1. The bank spent about $800,000 on transaction-related expenses in the quarter.