Farmers Reports Net Income Rises to $7.72M

CANFIELD, Ohio – Farmers National Banc Corp. Wednesday reported first-quarter net income of $7.72 million, or 28 cents a share.

This compares to fourth-quarter 2017 net income of $5.23 million, or 19 cents a share, and first-quarter 2017 net income of $5.78 million, or 21 cents a share.

In a prepared statement, the president and CEO of the holding company and the bank, Kevin J. Helmick, said, “We are pleased to report record earnings which are a result of the successful integration of previous mergers, continued strong loan growth, higher levels of noninterest income and a lower effective income tax rate.”

Among the highlights Farmers cited:

• 141 consecutive quarters of profitability.
• Total loans were $1.60 billion at March 31 compared $1.46 billion a year earlier. Loans comprise 78.1% of Farmers average earning assets, up from 77.9% at March 31, 2017.
• The net interest margin for the three months ended March 31 was 3.92%, a nine basis points decrease from the quarter ended March 31, 2017.
• Annualized return on average assets was 1.45% and annualized return on average equity 13.03% for the quarter ended March 31.
• Non-performing assets to total assets remain at low levels, 0.37% at March 31.

Key performance ratios for the quarters ended March 31 and Dec. 31 and March 31, 2017:

• Net interest margin (annualized), 3.92%, 3.98%, 4.01%.
• Efficiency ratio (tax equivalent basis), 57.98%, 59.13%, 58.79%.
• Return on average assets (annualized), 1.45%, 0.96%, 1.17%.
• Return on average equity (annualized), 13.03%, 8.60%, 10.87%.

Net interest income was $18.94 million, down from $19.06 million the preceding quarter and up from $17.53 million the year-ago quarter.

Noninterest income (such as fees from mortgage services, trust services and insurance commissions) was $6.01 million, slightly down from $6.05 million the fourth-quarter of 2017 and up from $5.88 million the year-ago quarter.

Noninterest expense (includes salaries and employee benefits, rents, merger-related, data processing, marketing, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. premiums) was $15.09 million, down from $15.39 million the fourth quarter but slightly higher than the $14.61 million reported the year-ago quarter.

Salaries and benefits rose to $8.73 million from $8.69 million the preceding quarter and $8.29 million the year-ago quarter.

Deposits rose slightly to $1.637 billion at March 31, from $1.604 billion the fourth-quarter, and up from $1.540 billion the year-ago quarter.

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