. Basic and diluted earnings per common share:

Basic earnings per common share has been calculated on the basis of net income for the period divided by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during each year. Diluted earnings per share gives effect to all dilutive potential common shares outstanding at the end of the year assuming that they had been issued, converted or exercised at the later of the beginning of the year or their date of issuance. In computing diluted earnings per share, the treasury stock method is used to determine the number of shares assumed to be purchased from the conversion of common share equivalents or the proceeds of the exercise of options.

The following table reconciles the numerators and denominators of the basic and diluted earnings per common share computation (Dollar amounts in thousands of U.S. dollars, except per share amounts):

	Three months ended September 30,				Nine months ended September 30,
	2019		2018		2019		2018
Numerator for basic and diluted earnings per common share:
Net income for the period		4,205		5,347		9,620		12,699

Denominator for basic and diluted earnings per common share:
Basic weighted average number of common shares outstanding		10,626,754		10,611,579		10,639,544		10,599,243
Effect of outstanding stock options		119,080		182,718		158,555		196,425
Diluted weighted average number of shares outstanding		10,745,834		10,794,297		10,798,099		10,795,668

Basic earnings per common share		0.40		0.50		0.90		1.20

Diluted earnings per common share		0.39		0.50		0.89		1.18

For the

three

months ended

September 30, 2019,

outstanding options to purchase

599,140

common shares were

not

included in the computation of diluted income per common share because all such options’ exercise price was greater than the average market price of the common shares for the period as compared to the

three

months ended

September 30, 2018,

where

440,000

outstanding options were

not

included in the computation.

For the

nine

months ended

September 30, 2019,

outstanding options to purchase

531,200

common shares were

not

nine

months ended

September 30, 2018,

where

440,000

outstanding options were

not

included in the computation.