Wednesday, February 11, 2015NILES, Ohio -- First Niles Financial Inc., holding company of Home Federal Savings and Loan Association of Niles, Tuesday reported fourth-quarter net income of $32,000, or three cents a share, and full-year 2014 net income of $225,000, or 20 cents a share.
This compares to fourth-quarter 2013 net income of $23,000, or two cents a share, and a full-year 2013 net loss of $284,000, or a loss of 26 cents per share.
Return on average assets for the three months and year ended Dec. 31 was 0.13% and 0.23%, respectively. Return on average assets for the same periods in 2013 was 0.09% and a negative 0.29%.
Net interest income after the provision for loan losses for the fourth quarter was $421,000 compared to $426,000 for the year-ago quarter. Net interest income after the provision for loan losses for the full year was $1.6 million, an increase of $323,000 over 2013. The company attributed the increase in net interest income to higher income from mortgage-backed and related securities that resulted from slower principal prepayments and reduced interest expense resulting from the refinancing at lower rates of maturing Federal Home Loan Bank advances.
Noninterest income for the fourth quarter was $76,000, compared to $71,000 for the same period in 2013. Full-year noninterest income was $451,000 compared to $187,000 for 2013. Noninterest income in 2014 came mostly from a $167,000 gain on the sale of Home Federal’s participation interest in an affordable housing limited partnership, a $160,000 gain on sale of investment securities and $95,000 in accrued income from bank-owned life insurance.
In 2013, most noninterest income came from a $65,000 gain on sale of investments, $60,000 in accrued income from bank-owned life insurance and a $33,000 gain on sale of repossessed real estate. In both years, service fees and other income accounted for the remainder, the company said.
Noninterest expense (includes wages and benefits, data processing, marketing and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. premiums) for the fourth quarter was $481,000 compared to $490,000 a year earlier, a decrease of 1.8%. Full-year noninterest expense was $1.92 million compared to $1.97 million for 2013, a decrease of $51,000, or 2.6%.
Nonperforming loans, which consist of nonaccruing loans and loans more than 90 days past due, rose to $1.3 million at year-end, or 5.9% of net loans receivable as compared to $1.0 million, or 4.9% of net loans receivable at Dec. 31, 2013. The allowance for loan losses totaled $274,000 at Dec. 31, 2014, or 20.3% of nonperforming loans and 1.2% of net loans receivable. At year-end 2013, the allowance was $256,000, representing 24.5% of nonperforming loans and 1.2% of net loans receivable.
At year-end, Home Federal had $381,000 in repossessed real estate consisting of two single-family properties and one commercial property. At year-end 2013, the bank reported $422,000 in repossessed real estate composed of six single-family properties and one commercial property.
At Dec. 31, Home Federal listed total assets of $96.48 million compared to $96.78 million a year earlier. During the year, total loans increased by $1.42 million to $22.87 million and total investment securities fell to $59.85 million from $61.64 million.
Cash and cash equivalents increased by $2.0 million during 2014. Deposits fell to $53.22 million from $62.11 million during 2014, something the bank attributed to “aggressive pricing by competitors.”
First Niles Financial will hold its annual meeting at 2 p.m. April 29 in its at the main office, the president and CEO, Lawrence Safarek, announced.
Source: First Niles Financial Inc.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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