NBT Bancorp Inc. Announces Net Income of $21.4 Million; Declares Cash Dividend

NORWICH, N.Y, July 24, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NBT Bancorp Inc. (NBT) (NASDAQ:NBTB) reported net income for the three months ended June 30, 2017 was $21.4 million, up from $20.3 million for the first quarter of 2017, and up from $19.9 million for the second quarter of  2016. Diluted earnings per share for the three months ended June 30, 2017 was $0.49, as compared with $0.46 for the prior quarter, and $0.46 per share for the second quarter of 2016. 

Net income for the six months ended June 30, 2017 was $41.6 million, up from $38.8 million for the same period last year. Reported diluted earnings per share for the six months ended June 30, 2017 was $0.95, as compared with $0.89 for the same period in 2016.

2017 Second Quarter Highlights:

• Quarter to date earnings per share up 6.5% from prior year and on a linked quarter basis
  
  
• Net income up 5.3% from the first quarter of 2017 and up 7.3% from the second quarter of 2016
   
• Year to date annualized loan growth was 5.5%
   
• Average demand deposits for the six months ended June 30, 2017 were up 9.5% from the same period in 2016

“Quarter-over quarter and year-over-year increases in net income and earnings per share demonstrate the strong efforts of our team of professionals to develop relationships that drive growth in loans, demand deposits and noninterest income,” said NBT President and CEO John H. Watt, Jr. “For 10 years NBT has been engaged in technology enabled point of sale consumer lending. The launch of our solar loan program with Sungage Financial, Inc. announced earlier this month leverages our experience partnering with fintech companies to offer affordable and responsible loans to consumers and at the same time further diversify our delivery channels and the risk on our balance sheet.”

Net interest income was $69.6 million for the second quarter of 2017, up $1.1 million, or 1.6%, from the previous quarter. Fully taxable equivalent (“FTE”) net interest margin was 3.44% for the three months ended June 30, 2017 down from 3.46% for the previous quarter. The yield on average earning assets was consistent with the prior quarter at 3.75%, while the cost of interest bearing liabilities increased two basis points (“bps”) to 0.44%. Average interest earning assets were up $82.7 million, or 1.0%, as compared to the prior quarter, primarily driven by an $83.0 million increase in loans and a $4.7 million increase in securities.

Net interest income was $69.6 million, up $3.8 million, or 5.8%, from the second quarter of 2016. FTE net interest margin of 3.44% was consistent with the second quarter of 2016 as the improvement in asset yields were offset by the increase in cost of interest bearing liabilities. Average interest earning assets were up $438.3 million, or 5.6%, from the same period in 2016, which was primarily driven by a $286.4 million increase in loans and a $151.3 million increase in securities. 

Net interest income for the first six months of 2017 was $138.1 million up $7.8 million, or 6.0%, from the same period in 2016. FTE net interest margin of 3.45% for the six months ended June 30, 2017, was down from 3.46% for the same period in 2016. Average interest earning assets were up $498.7 million, or 6.5%, for the six months ended June 30, 2017, as compared to the same period in 2016, which was primarily driven by a $306.9 million increase in loans and a $184.8 million increase in securities. Interest income increased $9.0 million due to the increase in earning assets combined with a one bp improvement in asset yields. Interest expense was up $1.2 million, or 11.3%, for the six months ended June 30, 2017 as compared to the same period in 2016 and resulted primarily from increased interest rates and the average balance of interest bearing liabilities.

Noninterest income for the three months ended June 30, 2017 was $30.3 million, up $1.6 million, or 5.4%, from the prior quarter, and up $0.7 million, or 2.3%, from the second quarter of 2016. The increases in noninterest income from the prior quarter and the same quarter of the prior year were primarily driven by higher retirement plan administration, trust, and ATM and debit card fees that were offset by lower insurance and other financial services revenue during the second quarter of 2017. Retirement plan administration fees increased in the second quarter of 2017 as compared to the prior quarter and the same quarter of the prior year due primarily to acquisitions completed in 2016 and the acquisition of Downeast Pension Services (“DPS”) in the second quarter of 2017. ATM and debit card fees increased from the prior quarters due to higher number of accounts and usage. Insurance revenue decreased from the prior quarter due to seasonality increases typically seen in the first quarter. Other noninterest income decreased from the same quarter of the prior year due to a non-recurring gain recognized in the second quarter of 2016.

Noninterest income for the six months ended June 30, 2017 was $59.1 million, up $1.1 million, or 1.9%, from the same period of 2016. The increase in noninterest income from the prior year was primarily driven by higher retirement plan administration, trust, and ATM and debit card fees that were offset by lower other noninterest income during the first six months of 2017 as compared to the same period in 2016. Retirement plan administration fees increased in 2017 as compared to the prior year due primarily to acquisitions completed in 2016 and the acquisition of DPS in the second quarter of 2017. ATM and debit card fees increased from the prior year due to higher number of accounts and usage in 2017 as compared to 2016. Other noninterest income decreased from the prior year due to a non-recurring gain recognized in the second quarter of 2016.

Noninterest expense for the three months ended June 30, 2017 was $60.3 million, down $1.0 million, or 1.6%, from the prior quarter, and down $0.1 million, or 0.2%, from the second quarter of 2016. The decrease from the prior quarter was primarily driven by decreases in occupancy expense due to seasonal expenses, salaries and employee benefits due to the timing of incentive and equity-based compensation that were offset by higher professional fees and outside services and other expenses due to timing.

Noninterest expense for the six months ended June 30, 2017 was $121.6 million, up $2.9 million, or 2.5%, from the same period of 2016. The increase from the prior year was primarily due to higher salaries and employee benefits, occupancy and equipment expenses in the first half of 2017 as compared to the same period of 2016.

In the first quarter of 2017, NBT adopted new accounting guidance for equity-based transactions requiring that all excess tax benefits and tax deficiencies associated with equity-based compensation be recognized as an income tax benefit or expense in the income statement. Previously, tax effects resulting from changes in NBT’s share price subsequent to the grant date were recorded through stockholders’ equity at the time of vesting or exercise. The adoption of the accounting guidance resulted in $1.4 million and $0.1 million income tax benefit, in the first and second quarters of 2017, respectively. The year to date impact to diluted earnings per share was $0.03 of earnings per share.

Income tax expense for the three months ended June 30, 2017 was $10.7 million, up $2.4 million, or 28.6%, from the prior quarter, and up $0.4 million, or 4.1%, from the second quarter of 2016. The effective tax rate of 33.3% for the second quarter of 2017 was up from 29.0% for the first quarter of 2017 and down from 34.0% for the second quarter of 2016. The increase from the prior quarter was primarily due to a decrease of $1.4 million in the income tax benefit related to the adoption of new accounting guidance in 2017 and a higher level of taxable income in the three months ended June 30, 2017 than the three months ended March 31, 2017. Excluding the tax benefit of the new accounting guidance the effective tax rate was 33.6% and 34.3% for the first and second quarters of 2017, respectively. The decrease in the effective tax rate from the second quarter of 2016 is due to a higher level of non-taxable income as a percentage of pre-tax income in the second quarter of 2017 as compared to the same quarter in the prior year.

Income tax expense for the six months ended June 30, 2017 was $19.0 million, down $1.0 million, or 5.0%, from the same period of 2016. The effective tax rate of 31.3% for the first six months of 2017 was down from 34.0% for the same period in the prior year. The decrease from the prior year was primarily due to the $1.5 million income tax benefit related to the adoption of new accounting guidance in 2017 offset by a higher level of taxable income in the first half of 2017 compared to the same period in 2016. Excluding the tax benefit of the new accounting guidance the effective tax rate was 33.9% for the first half of 2017.

Asset Quality

Net charge-offs were $6.7 million for the three months ended June 30, 2017, as compared to $6.9 million for the prior quarter, and $4.5 million for the second quarter of 2016. Provision expense was $7.6 million for the three months ended June 30, 2017, as compared with $7.4 million for the prior quarter, and $4.8 million for the second quarter of 2016. Annualized net charge-offs to average loans for the second quarter of 2017 was 0.42%, compared with 0.45% for the first quarter of 2017 and 0.30% for the second quarter of 2016.

Net charge-offs were $13.5 million for the six months ended June 30, 2017, as compared to $9.3 million for the same period of 2016. Provision expense was $14.9 million for the six months ended June 30, 2017, as compared with $10.9 million for same period of 2016. Annualized net charge-offs to average loans for the first six months of 2017 was 0.44% compared with 0.32% for the first six months of 2016.

Nonperforming loans to total loans was 0.50% at June 30, 2017, down 6 bps from 0.56% for the prior quarter, and down 15 bps from 0.65% at June 30, 2016. Past due loans as a percentage of total loans were 0.59% at June 30, 2017, as compared to 0.54% at March 31, 2017 and 0.60% at June 30, 2016.   

The allowance for loan losses totaled $66.6 million at June 30, 2017, compared to $65.7 million at March 31, 2017, and $64.6 million at June 30, 2016. The allowance for loan losses as a percentage of loans was 1.05% (1.13% excluding acquired loans) at June 30, 2017, compared to 1.05% (1.13% excluding acquired loans) at March 31, 2017 and 1.07% (1.16% excluding acquired loans) at June 30, 2016.

Balance Sheet

Total assets were $9.1 billion at June 30, 2017, up $209.2 million, or 2.4% from December 31, 2016. Loans were $6.4 billion at June 30, 2017, up $169.9 million, or 2.7%, from December 31, 2016. Total deposits were $7.0 billion at June 30, 2017, up $41.6 million, or 0.6%, from December 31, 2016. Stockholders’ equity was $940.4 million, representing a total equity-to-total assets ratio of 10.36% at June 30, 2017, compared with $913.3 million or a total equity-to-total assets ratio of 10.30% at December 31, 2016.

Stock Repurchase Program

The Company did not purchase shares of its common stock during the three or six months ended June 30, 2017. As of June 30, 2017, there were 1,000,000 shares available for repurchase under a plan authorized on March 28, 2016, which expires on December 31, 2017.

Dividend

The NBT Board of Directors approved a 2017 third-quarter cash dividend of $0.23 per share at a meeting held today. The dividend will be paid on September 15, 2017 to shareholders of record as of September 1, 2017.
  
Corporate Overview

NBT Bancorp Inc. is a financial holding company headquartered in Norwich, N.Y., with total assets of $9.1 billion at June 30, 2017. The company primarily operates through NBT Bank, N.A., a full-service community bank, and through two financial services companies. NBT Bank, N.A. has 154 banking locations with offices in New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. EPIC Advisors, Inc., based in Rochester, N.Y., is a full-service 401(k) plan recordkeeping firm. NBT-Mang Insurance Agency, based in Norwich, N.Y., is a full-service insurance agency. More information about NBT and its divisions can be found on the Internet at: www.nbtbancorp.com, www.nbtbank.com, www.epic1st.com and www.nbtmang.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and are based on the beliefs and assumptions of the management of NBT Bancorp and its subsidiaries and on the information available to management at the time that these statements were made. There are a number of factors, many of which are beyond NBT’s control, which could cause actual conditions, events or results to differ significantly from those described in the forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements include, among others, the following possibilities: (1) competitive pressures among depository and other financial institutions may increase significantly; (2) revenues may be lower than expected; (3) changes in the interest rate environment may reduce interest margins; (4) general economic conditions, either nationally or regionally, may be less favorable than expected, resulting in, among other things, a deterioration in credit quality and/or a reduced demand for credit; (5) legislative or regulatory changes, including changes in accounting standards and tax laws, may adversely affect the businesses in which NBT is engaged; (6) competitors may have greater financial resources and develop products that enable such competitors to compete more successfully than NBT; and (7) adverse changes may occur in the securities markets or with respect to inflation.  Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Except as required by law, NBT does not update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent circumstances or events.

Non-GAAP Measures

This press release contains financial information determined by methods other than in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("GAAP"). These measures adjust GAAP measures to exclude the effects of acquisition related intangible amortization expense on earnings and equity as well as providing a fully taxable equivalent yield on securities and loans. Where non-GAAP disclosures are used in this press release, the comparable GAAP measure, as well as a reconciliation to the comparable GAAP measure, is provided in the accompanying tables. Management believes that these non-GAAP measures provided useful information that is important to an understanding of the results of NBT’s core business as well as provide information standard in the financial institution industry. Non-GAAP measures should not be considered a substitute for financial measures determined in accordance with GAAP and investors should consider NBT’s performance and financial condition as reported under GAAP and all other relevant information when assessing the performance or financial condition of NBT.

Contact:
John H. Watt Jr., President and CEO
Michael J. Chewens, CFO
NBT Bancorp Inc.52 South Broad StreetNorwich, NY 13815
607-337-6119