UCFC Q1 Net Income Drops to $1.54 Million

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – United Community Financial Corp., holding company of Home Savings Bank and the James & Sons Insurance agency, Tuesday reported first-quarter net income of $1.54 million, or 3.2 cents per basic share.

This compares to fourth-quarter net income of $5.03 million, or 10.8 cents per basic share, and year-ago income of $3.32 million, or seven cents per basic share.

During the quarter, UCFC completed its acquisition of Premier Bank & Trust, for which it paid $3.3 million after taxes.

Excluding acquisition and integration expense, the company had core income of $4.8 million, or diluted earnings per share of 9.9 cents, UCFC said in its earnings release.

In a prepared statement, the president and CEO of UCFC and Home Savings Bank, Gary M. Small, said, “We are very pleased to announce solid core earnings along with the completion of a significant acquisition in March. Financial performance is in line with expectations and we are expanding our wealth management group to capitalize on our newly acquired capabilities.”

In its release, UCFC noted, “Organic loan growth strong at 23.1% annualized” and that “Nonperforming loans decreased to 0.58% and 0.81%, respectively, of total loans,” which were $1.911 billion.

UCFC also noted its total assets rose to $2.557 billion, up from $2.191 billion at Dec. 31, or 16.7%, primarily because of the acquisition of Premier.

Key performance ratios for the quarters ended March 31 and Dec. 31 and March 31, 2016:

• Return on average assets, 0.25%, 0.93%, 0.66%.
• Return on average equity, 2.24%, 8.00%, 5.33%.
• Net interest margin, 3.28%, 3.26%, 3.21%.
• Efficiency ratio, 83.78%, 61.89%, 63.90%.

Net interest income was $18.48 million, up from $16.33 million at Dec. 31 and $14,87 million at the first quarter of 2016.

Total noninterest income (includes insurance agency income, brokerage income and debit and credit card fees) was $5.38 million, down from the $5.64 million reported at Dec. 31 but up from the $4.66 million the year-ago quarter.

Noninterest expense (salaries and employee benefits, rents, data processing, acquisition-related, marketing, professional fees and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. premiums) was $20.29 million, up from $13.71 million the fourth quarter and $12.46 million the year-ago quarter.

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