Home Savings Reports Record Annual Income of $39.5M

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – United Community Financial Corp., the parent company of Home Savings Bank, reports record net income of $39.5 million, or 81 cents per diluted share for 2019, up from $37.2 million, or 74 cents per share, in 2018.

UCFC reported $1.4 million in costs for its merger with First Defiance Financial Corp., set to be completed by the end of the month. 

“2019 proved to be a challenging yet gratifying period for Home Savings. Our team took the steps necessary to overcome the difficulties presented by a tumultuous year for net interest margin management and a very active loan prepayment environment,” said Gary M. Small, CEO and president, in  a statement. “The organization set record levels of commercial and residential new business production, delivered exceptional fee income growth across all business lines, and drove strong deposit growth. As a result we posted excellent financial results, our best earnings on record.

“We remain right on track regarding our pending merger with First Defiance and we look forward to an exciting and successful 2020 with our new partners,” he continued.

Fourth-quarter earnings for the bank were $9.8 million, or 20 cents per share, up from $9.6 million in the same period of 2018. Excluding merger-related costs, earnings were $11.2 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31.

Key performance indicators for the quarters ended Dec. 31, Sept. 31, and Dec. 31, 2018:

• Return on average assets: 1.36%, 1.46%, 1.48%.
• Return on average equity: 12.03%, 13.14%, 13.22%.
• Net interest margin: 3.22%, 3.21%, 3.33%.
• Efficiency ratio: 53.55%, 52.15%, 55.37%.

Total interest income for the fourth quarter was $29 million, down slightly from the third-quarter mark of $29.54 million and the year-ago level of $30.17 million.

Noninterest income was $6.85 million, down from $7.02 million in the third quarter but up from $5.59 million in the final quarter of 2018.

Noninterest expenses, which includes salaries, data processing, advertising and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. premiums, totaled $16.78 million, up from $15.01 million in the third quarter and down from $17.18 million a year ago.

Deposits rose 3.3% year-over-year to $2,287,109.

Total loans were $2.35 billion, up from $2.32 billion in the third quarter and $2.26 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Total assets in the fourth quarter were $2.87 billion, down from $2.91 billion in the third quarter and up from $2.81 billion in the fourth quarter of 2018.

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.