Northwest Bancorporation  Inc., the Spokane-based parent company of Inland Northwest Bank, has reported first-quarter net income of $588,000, up from $436,000 in the year-earlier period. 

The company reported earnings per diluted share of 14 cents for the quarter, which is the same as the year-earlier period, even though it had about 1 million more shares outstanding on March 31 than it did a year earlier. 

This was the company’s ninth consecutive quarter of profitability, INB said in an earnings press release. 

The bank had $305.5 million in net loans as of March 31, up $41.3 million from $264.2 million a year earlier.

Deposits as of March 31 were $336.5 million, an increase of $15.9 million, or 5 percent, from a year earlier. As of March 31, the company had total assets of $398.5 million, compared with $391.8 million a year earlier. Meanwhile, its nonperforming assets decreased 54 percent year over year.

For the 2013 year, the company posted net income of $2.6 million, or 81 cents a share, up from $687,000, or 22 cent a share, in 2012. 

Randall J. Fewel, president and CEO of the company, says in the release, “After the outstanding year we had in 2013, it is particularly gratifying to achieve net earnings in the first quarter this year that are 35 percent better than the first quarter last year.”

Inland Northwest Bank operates seven branches in Spokane County and four branches in Kootenai County.