CANFIELD, Ohio: Farmers National Banc Corp. announced net income for the three months ended December 31, 2014 of $2.1 million, or $0.12 per diluted share, which compares to $2.3 million, or $0.12 per diluted share for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2013.
Net income for the year ended December 31, 2014 was $9.0 million, a 15.2% increase compared to $7.8 million for 2013. On a per share basis, net income for the year ended December 31, 2014 was $0.48, an increase of 17.1% compared to the year ended December 31, 2013. Total loans were $663.9 million at December 31, 2014, compared to $630.7 million at December 31, 2013. This represents an increase of 5.3%. The increase in loans is a direct result of Farmers’ focus on loan growth utilizing a talented lending and credit team, while adhering to a sound underwriting discipline. Most of the increase in loans has occurred in the commercial real estate, commercial and industrial and residential real estate loan portfolios. Loans comprised 59.4% of the Bank’s average earning assets in 2014, an improvement compared to 56.1% in 2013. This improvement has resulted in a 2.5% increase in loan income from the fourth quarter of 2013 to the same quarter in 2014.
President and CEO Kevin J. Helmick stated, “Our improvement in net income for the year ended December 31, 2014 is a result of a 10.0% increase in noninterest income, a 2.3% decrease in noninterest expenses and a $440 thousand improvement in net interest income. The continued focus on increasing fee-based revenues and reducing expenses has also contributed to an improvement in our efficiency ratio to 70.24% from 74.82% in the prior year. The bottom-line result of our efforts has increased earnings per share by 17.1%. We are also pleased to report that loans increased 5.3% in the past twelve months.”
