Provident Bankshares Corp.

114 E. Lexington St.

Year founded: 1886

Industry: Banking

Post 200 Category: Top Financial Companies

Revenue: $368.10 Million

Net Income/Loss: $60.33 Million

Earnings per share: $1.95

Dividend: $1.01

Stockholder equity: $617.44 Million

Auditor: KPMG LLP

Stock: PBKS

Assets: $6.57 Billion

Market capitalization: $1.06 Billion

52-week high: 37.65 11/15/2004

52-week low: 27.12 6/15/2004

Chairman and CEO: Gary N. Geisel

President and COO: Kevin G. Byrnes

Employees: 1953

Local employees: 526

Description: Provident Bankshares is the holding company for Provident Bank, the second-largest banking institution headquartered in Maryland. With $6.6 billion in assets, it has 149 branches in southern Pennsylvania, Virginia, Baltimore and the greater Washington suburbs. Sixty of these branches are inside big-box retailers or supermarkets such as Shoppers Food Warehouse, Wal-Mart stores and Super Fresh, with some open seven days a week.

Developments: Provident's core banking growth in the key markets of Baltimore, Washington and Richmond led to record earnings for 2004, with profit totaling $60.3 million, a 17 percent increase over 2003. Consumer lending was fueled by growth in home equity loans, which increased 39 percent. Commercial real estate loans grew 45 percent while commercial business loans increased 84 percent. Small-business loans and deposits, one of Provident's focuses, increased significantly from 2003. Provident concluded its merger with Southern Financial Bancorp Inc. of Warrenton, which added 30 branches in Northern Virginia, Richmond, Charlottesville and the District. The merger is part of the bank's strategy for becoming a strong regional bank from Baltimore to Richmond. Specifically, Provident is counting on the merger to expand its commercial banking business in Virginia. Until recently, Provident has specialized in consumer banking while Southern has focused on business customers.