SunTrust Banks income drops on bad Enron loans

ATLANTA - SunTrust Banks Inc. said Wednesday its net income fell 10 percent in the first quarter as it wrote off more than $118 million in loans to failed energy trader Enron Corp. <br> <br> SunTrust said net income was $304.8 million, or $1.06 per share, down from $337.5 million, or $1.14 per share, in the first quarter of 2001. <br> <br> Excluding one-time charges associated with its purchase of Huntington Bancshares&#39; Florida branches, SunTrust earned $344.7 million, or $1.20 per share, in the first quarter of 2001. <br> <br> The results beat the $1.17 expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call. <br> <br> In midday trading, shares changed hands at $66.94, down 11 cents, on the New York Stock Exchange. <br> <br> Slowing revenue will force Atlanta-based SunTrust, the nation&#39;s 10th-largest commercial bank, to reduce its work force through a hiring freeze and attrition, officials said Wednesday. The hiring freeze takes effect immediately, company spokesman Barry Koling said. <br> <br> The company did not say how many of its 28,000 employees it hopes to eliminate. <br> <br> &#34;This is not an across-the-board layoff,&#34; said L. Phillip Humann, the company&#39;s chairman, president and chief executive. &#34;We hire an awful lot of people in this company every day, and we are not going to do that starting today. This is not a headhunting exercise.&#34; <br> <br> SunTrust earlier cut about 300 positions from Huntington Bancshares&#39; 1,400 work force after it completed the purchase in February.<br>

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