YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- United Community Financial Corp., holding company of Home Savings and Loans Co., Wednesday reported net income for the quarter ended Sept. 30 of $2.9 million, or six cents a share. This compares to $42.4 million, or 84 cents per share, for the second quarter and $1.72 million, or three cents a share, for the third quarter of 2013.
UCFC also reported its board of directors declared a cash dividend of a penny per share payable Nov. 14 to shareholders of record at the close of business Nov. 3.
The income reported for the second quarter included Home Savings recognizing a tax benefit of $39.1 million from the reversal of a deferred tax asset valuation reserve. Excluding that recognition, second-quarter income would have been $3.1 million.
Home Savings described its performance for the three months ended Sept. 30 “another strong quarter.”
In a prepared statement, the president and CEO of UCFC and Home Savings, Gary M. Small, said, “Our strong performance is evidence that our strategies are working. We have been able to grow our loan portfolio, manage expenses, reduce our funding costs and attract new customers. These are all signs that we are headed in the right direction.”
Key performance ratios for the quarters ended Sept. 30, June 30 and Sept. 30, 2013:
Annualized loan growth was 12% in the third quarter and for the first nine months, UCFC said. It reported total loans (net) of $1.12 billion compared to $1.087 billion at June 30 and $1.009 billion at Sept. 30, 2013.
Net interest income was $12.73 million compared to $12.74 million the preceding quarter and $12.70 million the year-ago quarter.
Noninterest income (includes service charges and mortgage servicing fees) was $4.17 million compared to $3.44 million the quarter ended June 30 and $3.55 million the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2013.
Noninterest expense (includes salaries and employee benefits, rents, data processing, advertising and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. premiums) rose slightly to $14.25 million from $14.23 million the previous quarter and $13.53 million the year-ago quarter.
The credit quality metrics remain stable. The allowance for loan losses was $18.13 million at Sept. 30 with $248,000 charged off during the quarter. This compares to June 30 when the allowance was $18.26 million with $676,000 charged off during the second quarter and the third quarter a year ago when the allowance was $21.03 million and $1.34 million was charged off.
UCFC said, “Credit quality continues to improve with third-quarter net charge-offs at nine basis points [0.09%] of net loans.”
Nonperforming assets (includes nonperforming loans of $20.71 million) fell 32% to $25.2 million during the quarter from $36.8 million the year-ago third quarter, UCFC reported. The ratio of nonperforming assets to assets was 1.40% compared to 1.39% the second quarter and 2.72% the third quarter of 2013.
Total assets have rebounded slightly over the last year from $1.756 billion at Sept. 30, 2013, to $1.802 billion today.
SOURCE: United Community Financial Corp.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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