UCFC Reports Q4 Net Income of $5.03M

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – United Community Financial Corp., holding company of Home Savings Bank, reports net income of $5.03 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31, or 10.7 cents per diluted share, and full-year net income of $18.83 million, or 39.9 cents per diluted share.

Fourth-quarter net income compares to $5.15 million the third quarter, or 11 cents per diluted share, and fourth-quarter 2015 income of $4.33 million, or nine cents per diluted Share.

Net income for 2015 was $16.28 million, or 33.5 cents per diluted share.

In a prepared statement, the president and CEO of UCFC and Home Savings, Gary M. Small, said, “Excellent fourth-quarter performance capped off an outstanding year for Home Savings. For the year, we originated over $900 million in loans, delivered strong growth in our commercial and consumer business segments, successfully expanded our residential lending business to new markets, added insurance agency and mezzanine finance capabilities, and are well on our way to completing the integration process with Premier Bank and Trust. All indications lead us to believe 2017 should prove to be an equally exciting year as business pipelines are full and we anticipate expansion of Premier’s asset management, trust and private banking business across the organization.”

Key ratios for the quarters ended Dec. 31, Sept. 30 and Dec. 31, 2015:

• Return on average assets, 0.93%, 0.98%, 1.04%.
• Return on average equity, 8.00%, 8.38%, 8.63%.
• Net interest margin, 3.26%, 3.25%, 3.25%.
• Efficiency ratio, 61.89%, 59.40%, 60.81%.

Total interest income was $18.50 million for the quarter compared to $17.82 million the preceding quarter and $16.84 million the year-ago quarter.

Noninterest income (insurance agency income, service fees and charges, mortgage servicing rights, deposit-related fees) was $5.64 million, down from $6.00 million the third quarter but up from $5.45 million the last quarter of 2015.

Noninterest expense (such as salaries and employee benefits, data processing, occupancy and rents, advertising and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. premiums) was $13.72 million, up from $12.98 million the third quarter and $12.76 million the fourth quarter of 2015.

Deposits rose with total deposits reaching $1.515 billion at Dec. 31, up from $1.473 billion at Sept. 30 and $1.456 billion at Dec. 31, 2015.

Total loans reached $1.566 billion at Dec. 31, up from $1.534 billion at Sept. 30 and $1.442 billion at Dec. 31, 2015. Total growth year-over-year was 15.9%, UCFC said.

Commercial loan production was $308.7 million during 2016, 35.8% higher than 2015, Home Savings said. Commercial loan balances were 36.4% higher at Dec. 31, or $134.5 million more than at the end of the year-ago quarter.

Credit quality also improved as reflected by the nonperforming loans falling 25.7% during the year to $12.4 million. The majority of the increase in the provision for loan-loss expense was related to the growth of the loan portfolio, Home Savings said.

The ending balance for loan losses at Dec. 31 was $19.09 million, up from $18.23 million at the end of the third quarter and $17.17 million at the end of 2015.

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